Author's Note: Sorry this one took so long to post, I was rather bummed about the lack of reviewing so I decided to hold it off for a little bit longer. But, I'll get over it. *chokes back fake tears* But I expect more reviews this time… am I right? Of course I am. Enjoy and please R/R.

Summary: As an illness threatens to wipe out the Rebel Jaffa, how can the SGC help? And what caused it?

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Chapter Eleven:

Fatal Attraction

The rest of the night sailed by. After they ate, Sam challenged Jesse to play pool and even taught him how to make the shot she won two hundred dollars off of. Even through all of his fun, Jesse still noticed how his parents were around each other. Like when Jack unconsciously putting an arm around her and would watch her with a look on his face Jesse knew belonged only to her. Just as she would smile or laugh at ever joke he made, even the lame ones.

The drive home, to Sam's house, was a pleasant one. There was always some talk about something going on or what happened at the restaurant. It made Jesse think about how it had been before the mirror and the SGC and the Gou'ald and everything going on. Of when he had two parents. And, for just a moment, he could actually pretend that they were truly a family and that nothing else mattered the way it really did.

But the illusion faded away as the jeep pulled up in front of Sam's house. The conversation slowed to nothing as Jack parked the car. For a moment, Sam looked regrettably at her house as if wishing the night wouldn't end. When she looked back at Jack, Jesse was already half way out of the car.

"I'll see you tomorrow then… Jack."

Jack smiled at the use of his name, once again. She seemed to be getting the hang of calling him such a thing for she no longer stuttered over 'sir'. With a nod, he leaned over a kissed her on the check only then realizing he had overstepped their boundaries. Seeing her blush and look at him with a confused expression, he moved away and called out, "See ya tomorrow, Jesse."

Sam took this time to flee from his car, her blush still visible, even in the dim light of the evening. Jesse smiled but said nothing to further redden her checks. Instead, he merely opened the door to the hallway and escorted her in.

"Sammie?" He heard his grandfather call from somewhere within the house.

"Yea, dad?"

"Just seeing who was here," he answered, descending on their position. "Hey, Jesse. You're looking better than the last time I saw you," he told him with a smile on his face.

"Yea, you look different when I'm not so out of it." Jesse was still in a haze. It wasn't every day you got to see someone alive who, in your mind, is dead. But, then again, for him he was doing that every day anyway.

"So, how was dinner?" Jacob asked as they moved into the house.

"Good," Jesse said, not sure how comfortable he was talking to his grandfather- or, at least, someone who was almost exactly like his grandfather. "I bet Sam in pool."

"Really? I didn't even know she played," Jacob stated, casting an amused smile at his daughter, who merely shrugged.

"Yea, she's pretty good but… I'm afraid I was taught by the best."

"And who's that?" Sam asked, not previously told who had taught him all of his skill.

"My gr-" But Jesse stopped before finishing. Looking up at Jacob's expectant look, he said, flatly, "My grandfather. We used to play all the time before…" Jacob just nodded. He hadn't thought of how seeing all of these people he knew to be dead was affecting him.

"Um," Jesse stuttered, swallowing his long pent-up tears, "I here there's a baseball game on tonight. Do you watch?"

"I haven't seen a baseball game in almost five years. I'd love to watch," Jacob told him, smiling. He was glad to know that Jesse was trying to move past his mourning but hesitant to push the boy too far.

Plopping down on Sam's sofa, he looked at the TV screen Jesse had just turned on. The channels flipped past as he surfed through the stations trying to find the correct one. Jesse watched the channels change and remembered how much he had thought of the Quantum Mirror as a television changing channels as his mother moved to different realities.

He stopped suddenly as his eyes caught the familiar stadium. The fans were standing as the national anthem played in the background and the pair knew the game was about to start. When it came to an end, the crowd was in an uproar as they cheered the start of the game.

Sam watched from the next from, smiling as she saw her father and son clicking so well. She knew Jesse had his reservations about letting anyone in but was slowly starting to warm up to his new world. Her father, on the other hand, seemed thrilled to have a new grandchild. Now both his children had made a family for themselves, no matter how messed up hers was.

Shaking her head with a smile, she went about tidying her house, hearing the occasional shout of joy or dismay from the TV room.

**Sam's House, Kitchen**

Unlike at his father's house, Jesse always woke before Sam did. He would shower before her in the morning and eat while she finished with her own shower. He could hear the water running through the pipes as he rinsed off his dishes.

As he was drying his hands off, the annoying sound of the telephone ringing hit his ears. Walking over to it, he reluctantly picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Jesse? This is General Hammond. Is Major Cater available?"

"Um, I'm not sure. I think she just got out of the shower. I'll… go get her."

"No! Just tell her to report to the mountain immediately. And have her bring Jacob with her." The General hung up his phone before Jesse was even able to respond. Nodding to himself, he too put the phone on the receiver and ran up the stairs to find his mother.

Jesse recalled similar phone calls to his old house. It had never been the General, but others he assumed worked at the SGC. Once, it had been his father that had called. His mom had to leave immediately and he was told to wait at the neighbors'. He did that a lot: wait next door. Every time he sat, wishing he could do something. It had always stuck in his mind that his parents could be in danger but he never knew the extent until just recently.

Once up the stairs, he saw Jacob moving slowly out of the guestroom. He seemed paler than usual and sick. His slow movements enforced that thought in Jesse's mind but he knew the General's voice meant he was desperately needed at the mountain- no exceptions.

"Jacob, General Hammond just called. He said he needed you and Sam at the mountain immediately."

Jacob took more time than normal to process this information but nodded in the end and said with a weak voice, "Alright." Moving past Jesse, he walked down stairs and left it obvious that it was his job to inform Sam.

Which he did. Less than ten minutes later, the bunch was in the car and heading for Cheyenne Mountain as fast as the law would allow.

**SCG, Infirmary**

A guard was ordered to escort Jesse down the hall and to the Infirmary while Sam and Jacob stayed on the elevator and went wherever it was they were going. Though Jesse knew exactly where he was going, he knew it made them feel better to think that he would be protected ever outside of their watch.

Once to the door of his destination, he looked inside but didn't spot Janet. He continued his way into the room, the Sergeant walking away knowing that his charge had been delivered to where he was supposed to be.

"Hey!" The familiar voice caused Jesse's head to snap in the direction the voice had come from.

"Hi," he said with a smile, knowing it to be the Japanese woman he met the other day. "Where's Janet, I thought I might help out again while my… while Sam's here." Jesse surprised himself by almost saying 'mom' aloud; that was something he only thought of her in his mind, not aloud to others.

"Oh, she's at the same briefing. But, you can help me out," Nurse Ishikawa told him.

"Ok, but, um… what's going on?" Jesse asked. He was worried for both his parents, not to mention his ill grandfather.

With her back turned to him, she said, with an uncertain voice, "I'm… I'm not sure. I don't know, no tells me anything." A smile had been plastered on her face as she turned back to him and finished with her normal, perky attitude.

He was a teenager, he knew that, but he just wished that adults would see he was mature enough to hear the truth. Telling him lies he could see straight through only made it worse. Made him worry far more than if he had heard nothing.

"What do you really know?"

Hiding her frustration, Nariko said, "Just help me out with the stocking, please. I'm sure someone will tell you later." Sighing, Jesse nodded and obediently moved to go to work again.

**Alpha Cite**

The smell was awful. Worse than that. Even through the protective suits, you could easily taste it; taste and smell the sent hanging heavily in the damp air.

Janet, accompanied by a large medical unit, SG-1- devoid of Teal'c- and Jacob stepped through the 'gate and saw what horrors something had brought. It was no longer the alive, buzzing community that SG-1 had visited only days before. No smoke came from the fires nor could you smell the food being prepared.

Continuing on, the group past by a large pile of lifeless bodies- men, women, and even children. It was as if they had been put there in hopes their burial could come as soon as possible. But, as the pile seemed to grow ever higher and the bottom corpses rotted to the point that they were unrecognizable, that seemed even less likely.

As they grew even closer to the settlement, groans of pain and screams of delusion greeted the team's ears. Dozens were lying on the ground, some unconscious, some dead, some trying to pray as their life slowly faded away.

One Jaffa in particular stood out to Jack. He remembered seeing her not long before they had left. She was a young woman of about eighteen. Her long dark hair was tangled and hung on her pale face, clinging to the sweat and perspiration. The mark her forehead even seemed paler, lifeless and no longer the over-powering feature that it was on most Jaffa.

Taking a moment to digest everything they were seeing, Janet hollered, "Alright, we'll, uh… we'll make that building the hospital. Find everyone that's alive and bring them there. Everyone who's dead…" Janet stopped, her arm hanging in mid-air after pointing to the indicated building. She knew what she wanted to say, it was saying it that she found hard. "Put them in the pile. Move out."

The sound in Janet's voice matched everyone else's heart: they all wanted to cry, to mourn what they were seeing. But it was not the time for that. No, they needed to work to save those who left.

**SGC, Infirmary**

Jesse watched as the hours ticked away. Slowly, the time passed five hours- much longer than he thought the briefing should have lasted. Nariko continued to give him work to do, trying to keep him busy as she worked on something of her own.

She often entered the Infirmary, took a few things, and brought them somewhere else. Only to come back and repeat the process. Jesse was tempted to follow her and see what it was that she was doing, but refrained from it knowing that he could get in more trouble than he wanted at the moment.

Inside, he watched over the quiet room, knowing soon that something was going to happen. The tension was ever growing; something was brewing. He noticed it in all of the nurses, doctors, and even the MP's.

All but one of them. A taller, dark haired man in his late twenties. No matter where Jesse seemed to be in the Infirmary, he seemed to be watching with his grey, almost lifeless eyes. He showed no hint of emotion nor did he seem anxious of whatever it was that was going on. He just watched. Watched Jesse.

**Alpha Cite**

After organizing the Jaffa, Janet counted at least one hundred and fifty alive yet seriously ill while over one hundred was dead. Jack, on his part, asked around and it seems that Ray'ac had left with another Jaffa on a week long mission somewhere before the outbreak had even started. Hearing from others and seeing it for themselves, it seemed that Bra'tac was, somehow, immune to the virus for he had been helping the others.

With this knowledge, Janet had spent time taking blood samples of some of the Jaffa- including Bra'tac. Then she returned to the Stargate with SG-1 and Jacob, remorsefully happy to be leaving the planet and getting away from the horrible smell and sight.

**SGC, Base Room**

After another hour of waiting and helping, Jesse was escorted out of the Infirmary and brought to one of the base rooms and told to wait there. Through the entire trip, he could hear the loud klaxons he remembered and the bright red lights glaring on the walls. At the same time, a foreign voice yelled out that there was an incoming traveler.

Once at his newest room, the door closed and he knew there was a guard standing outside of it, limiting his chance of slipping away unnoticed. But he had a feeling he could do it. That he could figure out a way to distract the guards long enough that he could run away without notice. To run somewhere that he could find out what was going on; to find out something before it drove him insane.

Cracking the door open, he could hear the sounds of people walking in and around the hall. But Jesse ignored it, hoping that it didn't harm his efforts to get away.

"Excuse me," he said to the guard, stepping out of the room.

"You're not supposed to be out of your room," she told him, her young voice almost unsure of itself.

"I know, I was just wondering… could I have something to drink. I'm really thirsty."

"I don't know, I'm not supposed to leave your door."

Jesse put on his best possible pout and acted as if he were much younger than he truly was. "Please. I swear I won't go anywhere."

The guard's face shifted between stern and commanding, to unsure before she submitted to Jesse and said, "Alright. But only if you go in your room and stay there until I get back. Promise?"

"I promise," Jesse said in his best possible innocent voice to prove that he wasn't lying. And, just to prove his point, he stepped back inside the room and slowly closed it behind him.

Listening hard to the hall outside of him, he heard the guard walk away. Once he felt secure enough to know that the guard was, indeed, gone, he reopened the door and looked around. Cautiously, he walked out of his room and closed the door behind him once again.

With a stealth he rarely possessed, Jesse made his way to the Infirmary. He had a feeling something was going to happen there, he just wasn't sure what yet. After what he felt in the Infirmary, he had a feeling something was going to happen. And maybe it was there.

**SGC, Infirmary**

After sneaking in through the opened doors, Jesse was able to glimpse his parents along with Daniel and Jacob getting checked out. Watching, he could see a distance in their eyes he couldn't possibly understand. While the nurses inspected them, he watched as Janet came from the same place Nurse Ishikawa always went to.

Watching from the shadows, his ears strained themselves to see if he could overhear anything.

"Well," Janet began as the ever stoic Teal'c, his partners in SG-1, and Jacob gathered around the petite doctor. "I've finished my analyze of the blood samples. There is no sign of the viral strand in either Bra'tac, myself, and SG-1. Jacob, however, does. I don't understand."

For a moment, it caught Jacob by surprise. But, after that moment, he understood. "So that's why I've been feeling so lousy."

It was meant more as a joke, but Janet took it quite seriously. Stepping closer to him, she felt his head and cheeks. "You're running a fever. For how long have you felt like this?"

"Since this mourning," he replied.

"Then he didn't get it at the Alpha Cite?" Daniel asked.

"If he felt sick before then… who… or what have they both been in contact with?" Janet muttered the last to herself. With sudden clarity, she recalled, "The viral stand! Jesse had one almost identical. This one in Jacob and the Jaffa, it's just a mutated version."

"Well, Jesse survive," Daniel said with hope.

"But not the symbiote," she answered, her voice grim. Thinking through some of the other details, she recalled an early question she had been asking herself. Why was Bra'tac the only Jaffa who was spared? And, with the new discovery, it was reasonable to assume it spared Teal'c as well.

"The symbiote."

"Excuse me?" Jack asked the doctor who had been starring into space for the past two minutes.

"The symbiote," she said as if that explained everything. "That's what attracts the virus. It's as if it can sense it and, when it has physical contact, it knows to spread to that body. Which would explain why we or Brac'tac don't have."

"None of the unexposed have a Gou'ald symbiote," Teal'c stated. To Jesse, this was more than confusing. What did he mean that he didn't have a symbiote? He could sense it far where he was.

"After they started taking the tretonin, they don't need their symbiotes."

"So what are we going to do, make them all get ride of their Gou'alds and start taking the medicine?" Jack quipped. "And how could this be Jesse's fault?"

"It's not Jesse's fault, it's just the virus he had. Most likely it spread to the Jaffa when he touched one of them there. From what I heard, he and Jacob spent most of yesterday night together, they may have accidentally touch and the virus spread."

"What I still don't get, is how it kills? If it's only attracted to certain people and then how did Jesse survive when all these Jaffa didn't?" Jacob asked.

"From what I can tell, it attacks the symbiote. Once it's dead, the virus seems to become dormit, like waiting in the blood. But, for the Jaffa, the virus has essentially destroyed their immune system. In a few extra hours, they're dead. For Jesse, it just killed his Gou'ald. But, for the Tok'ra, I have no idea. It may work much the same as it did with Jesse… but Selmak will die if I don't find a cure." Jacob nodded and worked with the nurse as she put him onto one of the many beds.

"I should get Jesse- take another blood sample and see if I can find the antibody," Janet stated, her voice trying to be withdrawn.

"You won't find one." The deep voice of an unknown man startled not only Janet but the small group. Turning, they saw a tall man in his late twenties. He was an MP, but not one recognized by any of the SGC officers.

"Who are you?" Jack said, his voice daring him not to answer.

"No one you know." And he took the dare. His grey eyes just watched the group, seeing all, missing nothing. But they showed none of the natural emotion most eyes held, giving him an eerie gleam about him.

"What do you mean that I won't find one?"

"I mean, there isn't anything to find. It is still in him just dormit. Like in all the others. This virus could easily destroy you, perhaps you should destroy it first." As the man turned to leave, Jesse saw that he was the same man whose eyes followed him through the Infirmary. With sudden revelation, Jesse realized his and the man's eyes met and held each other.

"By the way," his voice added as his body turned to face the group. "Jesse's hiding over there. He's not one for waiting and being ignored." With that, he walked away and out of the room, leaving them with a riddle and no idea.

"That… was weird," Jack stated, his eyes moving from the doorway the man had just exited to where he said Jesse was. How he knew his name, what he looked like, how he knew him, or how he knew anything of what he knew was complete mystery.

"Jesse! Come here, now!" Janet scolded him, her demanding voice reaching across the room easily.

Reluctantly, Jesse rose from his hiding place, trying to ignore the stares of the six adults and any other on-looker who had nothing better to do. His face was the perfect mask: expertly hiding his fear of what he had hear, embarrassment of being caught, and guilt that he had been the one to spread a disease to so many others.

When Jesse reached their side, he saw how much worse Jacob had became in the last few hours. He was much paler and he had begun to sweat: the first few symptoms that Jesse remembered as he was watched by the Gou'ald and Jaffa.

Looking to Janet, he saw her short lived anger had just ran out and he was close to home free on that front. Stepping up to him, she bent slight to make her eyes level with his and took his arms in her hands. "Jesse, how long have you been there?"

Jesse just shrugged and said, "Since you walked in."

"That means he's heard everything," Daniel mumbled for they all knew that.

Ignoring what Daniel had said, she continued, "Do you understand what we said?"

Jesse looked at the ground when he said, "Kind of. I understand that I have some kind of virus in my system that spreads when I touch people. That I gave it to Jacob and the Jaffa. That it kills symbiotes. And that you won't find it in blood tests because it goes dormit after it kills the symbiote."

The last part Janet knew she had never said. But he solved the clue. "What did you say?"

Jesse looked at her. He had listened to everything and made that connection, he just assumed she did too. "I said, that you won't find it on blood tests after awhile like the Airman said. You said the virus showed signs of going into dormancy, I would assume that's only after it completed its job of killing the symbiote."

Janet, for her part, looked up at Sam. He may be smart, but he was quick as well. "I should get back to the lab, see what I can find out. And find that Airman. I need to talk with him… before it's too late."

Jack nodded. She may not have been his superior officer- the opposite, actually- but he knew when to follow an order of hers. Standing, he called over two of the MP's stationed in the Infirmary. After informing them of the other Airman's appearance and to find him, they nodded their understanding and walked away.

Jesse didn't bother listening to any of the words, he just knew what the context was about. After he watched their feet stomp away, he saw another pair walk up to his father and then to him.

"Jesse, I need you to go with him. Just until this is over."

Looking into his father's caring eyes, he shook his head, saying, "No, I wanna stay and help."

"Not now… not with this. Please, Jesse, listen to me. Go with him and stay." Jesse may have learned to test his limits with his teachers in school and to do some extreme things when he knew that he could get away with it, but he never tested his parents beyond a certain point. And that tone was it.

Reluctantly, he slipped off the bed and sauntered over to the newest guard assigned to watch over him. As he started to move away from the bed his parents and their friends were around, a smile grew over his face at the realization his last 'guard' must be frantic about her missing charge. That would be an interesting moment.

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Okay, okay. So Janet probably would have caught on too. But, whatever. I'm just trying to make the kid look smarter by making everyone else dumber. But you all knew that, right? Of course you did.

Please R/R and tell me what you think so far. Any comments about the Jaffa or whatever would be nice.