Exposed
This story and all themes and ideas contained in said story are the sole
ownership of J.L. Scott. Any copyright infringements can be prosecuted in a
court of law.
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?
Daniel knocked on the door. Nobody responded so he just turned the handle and walked in.
All of the rooms were pretty standard, but somehow this one rang of Jack. It was the one he most often utilized when staying on base. His Gameboy was lying on the table and one of his uniform jackets was thrown over the back of a chair.
Jackie was sitting on the edge of the bed. Daniel closed the door behind him.
"How you doin?" He asked quietly. She was staring at the floor. He'd never seen her so quiet as she had been in the last few days. She barely spoke, she hardly ate. It hurt him to see her in so much pain.
"This kind of stuff happens to you guys all the time, right?" she looked up at him, a hopeful look in her eyes and a nervous smile on her lips, "I mean, this is the kind of stuff that happens right? I've read your mission reports. There are close calls. Really close calls. But you guys always think of something. It always works out. So it'll be fine. He'll be fine" She swallowed, "Won't he?"
"Jackie..." How was he going to tell her this? Yes, so far, they'd been miraculously lucky. Their record made him believe that there was some kind of God up there, watching out for them. A real God, that loved and cared about them. But that didn't mean that this time it wouldn't be different. That this time, it was the end. That this time, their friends, her brother, might die.
But he didn't have to say anything. She started taking short little breaths and her jaw was trembling.
"He has to...he has to be fine. God, Daniel. I...what...he can't leave me." Tears were in her eyes and he could tell she was trying not to let them fall. It was a losing battle.
"What would I do? What would I do? He's...he's always been there. He's always taken care of me, and I just don't think....oh my god" Now she really started to cry, "I can't do this without him! What would I do? What would happen to me?" Daniel quickly knelt in front of her and grabbed her shoulders.
"I would never let anything bad happen to you, Jackie" he told her vehemently, "I will always make sure you are taken care of." The tears stopped and she took a couple of breaths to steady herself before she looked up at him. He used his thumb to brush a tear off her cheek while she gazed steadily into his eyes.
"Did you mean it?" she asked softly. He didn't have to ask what she was talking about.
"Yes" he answered surely. She closed her eyes and lifted her hand to cover his, still brushing her cheek. He leaned toward her and she leaned toward him, so that their foreheads were resting against each other. He breathed in her scent, so unique. She smelled like musky honey and lavender. He raised his other hand to the nape of her neck and guided her lips up to his. This kiss was different than had been their first, sitting in his lab. That kiss had been desperate, raging, frantic, each one of them trying to get as much as they could. This kiss was slow, romantic, seeking and giving at the same time. Jackie slowly slid off the bed until she was on her knees too, her hands splayed across his chest while he wrapped his fingers in the roots of her soft hair. She tilted her head and he sucked in the sweetness of her lush lips, just tasting her.
Soon they ran out of air and had to break. She pulled away slowly and only far enough to look up into his eyes. The soft yellow light from the small lamp glinted in the green of her eyes, giving them a magical glow.
"Danny..."
"Shhhh" He didn't want words to ruin this moment. There was nothing to say anyway. He had voiced his love, but he didn't need her to. She had told him with her kisses, with her looks.
They stayed there for a few moments, in each other's embrace, until Daniel's knees started to get sore from his own weight. He got to his feet, pulling her with him.
"You should get something to eat" he said lightly, knowing she probably hadn't even thought of going down to the cafeteria all day.
"Come on, I'll go with you" She blinked a couple of times and looked around the room. She'd retreated there to be closer to her brother, but she didn't feel the need for that reassurance now. Now, she had a different kind of support.
Before they could leave though, the door opened and one of the guards from the lab that Jack, Teal'c and Sam had been moved to stuck his head in.
"Sorry to bother you, sir," he said, "But they need you in the lab" Daniel looked down at Jackie and saw the hope and the anxiousness in her eyes. He led her down to the lab where they joined the General and Janet.
"They're awake" Janet nodded through the glass down at the three beds in the room. All three patients were thrashing around in their beds, screaming at the nurses ignoring them to be released.
"You'll never get away with it!" Jack yelled.
"Murderers!" Sam added.
"Sho'va!" Teal'c yelled menacingly. Jackie backed away from the glass and into Daniel who put a hand on her shoulder.
"Doctor, tell me you've got something" Hammond pleaded. Janet looked remorseful.
"I'm sorry" she said directly to Jackie, and then turned to the General, "Everything I try...as soon as one cluster dies, another cluster moves into the empty space. There's nothing I can give them that would make enough head way to do anything" Jackie shuddered in Daniel's arms. They all looked down at their friends, who continued to rant.
"What will happen to them?" Jackie asked.
"If the pathogens continue to increase at the rate they are" Janet paused, "I'd say they have a week. Maybe ten days" Everybody was silent.
"How could this have happened?" General Hammond muttered quietly. He looked at Jackie with a painful expression. She, however, was not sharing it. Instead she was gazing intently down at her raving brother with an expression the General had come to recognize as one that Daniel had right before he thought of something brilliant.
"Cursed to destroy themselves, the bearer of the snakes" she said quietly. Fraser and Hammond furled their brows.
"What?" The General asked.
"Cursed to destroy themselves, the bearer of snakes" Jackie repeated, this time more strongly. A light went on in Daniel's head.
"Of course" he said, "Of course"
"Doctor, what is she talking about?" Hammond asked. Daniel disengaged himself from Jack's sister and walked toward the glass before he turned back to the General.
"Sir, what if the Ferlings somehow devised a virus that increased the level of the goa'uld's already inherent paranoia?" Daniel said, sounding excited that they may have found a cause, at the very least.
"They become more and more paranoid until they destroy each other" Hammond expounded.
"Yes." Jackie agreed.
"If the virus was meant for the goa'uld why has it attacked them?" Janet asked.
"You said it yourself" Daniel told her, "Naquida. It detects the presence of a goa'uld through the naquida in their blood. They've all carried symbiots at some point in time"
"You're suggesting that this virus was contained within the jar. None of them handled the jar, how did they get it?" Hammond asked.
"Carright" Jackie said, "They said he was wet. He must've opened the jar, contracted the virus, and passed it to them when he attacked Sam"
"Then how did he get it?" Janet raised the question, "It attaches to naquida in the blood stream, why would it have attacked him?"
"Maybe it didn't" Daniel suggested, "Maybe it just built up in him until it started to affect him too. Until the levels were so high he could pass it through a tactile contact"
"Doctor?"
"It's possible, sir" Janet answered the General.
"That means the jar is the key" Jackie said, "Maybe there's some kind antidote hidden in all those engravings" There was a hopeful glint in her eyes.
"If there is, I'd love to have it" Janet said.
Jackie and Daniel flew down to his office and started pouring over the photos from the jar. Five days passed without them finding a single thing. Meanwhile, Jack, Teal'c and Sam continued to worsen. On the sixth day Janet had them sedated, and ordered that they remain sedated for their own safety. They had all gouged their wrists and ankles, and bruised their shoulders with their thrashing. They refused to eat and Jack had even bitten one of the orderlies that had tried to feed him.
It was late at night and neither Daniel nor Jackie had left his office for almost twenty four hours. Janet had ordered food taken down to them but neither had done more than nibble at it.
Daniel threw his pencil at the desk. It bounced and fell to the floor.
"There's nothing here!" he cried, rubbing his face in frustration.
"I know" Jackie agreed, staring, unseeing, at the notes she'd been stringing together, trying to break a code that just wasn't there, "It's just gibberish. Just pretty little symbols to throw us all off" Daniel let defeat wash over him. Jackie just continued to stare at the table.
"They're going to die"
To borrow a phrase: Stargate SG-1 no mine......no money, no sue, please?
Daniel knocked on the door. Nobody responded so he just turned the handle and walked in.
All of the rooms were pretty standard, but somehow this one rang of Jack. It was the one he most often utilized when staying on base. His Gameboy was lying on the table and one of his uniform jackets was thrown over the back of a chair.
Jackie was sitting on the edge of the bed. Daniel closed the door behind him.
"How you doin?" He asked quietly. She was staring at the floor. He'd never seen her so quiet as she had been in the last few days. She barely spoke, she hardly ate. It hurt him to see her in so much pain.
"This kind of stuff happens to you guys all the time, right?" she looked up at him, a hopeful look in her eyes and a nervous smile on her lips, "I mean, this is the kind of stuff that happens right? I've read your mission reports. There are close calls. Really close calls. But you guys always think of something. It always works out. So it'll be fine. He'll be fine" She swallowed, "Won't he?"
"Jackie..." How was he going to tell her this? Yes, so far, they'd been miraculously lucky. Their record made him believe that there was some kind of God up there, watching out for them. A real God, that loved and cared about them. But that didn't mean that this time it wouldn't be different. That this time, it was the end. That this time, their friends, her brother, might die.
But he didn't have to say anything. She started taking short little breaths and her jaw was trembling.
"He has to...he has to be fine. God, Daniel. I...what...he can't leave me." Tears were in her eyes and he could tell she was trying not to let them fall. It was a losing battle.
"What would I do? What would I do? He's...he's always been there. He's always taken care of me, and I just don't think....oh my god" Now she really started to cry, "I can't do this without him! What would I do? What would happen to me?" Daniel quickly knelt in front of her and grabbed her shoulders.
"I would never let anything bad happen to you, Jackie" he told her vehemently, "I will always make sure you are taken care of." The tears stopped and she took a couple of breaths to steady herself before she looked up at him. He used his thumb to brush a tear off her cheek while she gazed steadily into his eyes.
"Did you mean it?" she asked softly. He didn't have to ask what she was talking about.
"Yes" he answered surely. She closed her eyes and lifted her hand to cover his, still brushing her cheek. He leaned toward her and she leaned toward him, so that their foreheads were resting against each other. He breathed in her scent, so unique. She smelled like musky honey and lavender. He raised his other hand to the nape of her neck and guided her lips up to his. This kiss was different than had been their first, sitting in his lab. That kiss had been desperate, raging, frantic, each one of them trying to get as much as they could. This kiss was slow, romantic, seeking and giving at the same time. Jackie slowly slid off the bed until she was on her knees too, her hands splayed across his chest while he wrapped his fingers in the roots of her soft hair. She tilted her head and he sucked in the sweetness of her lush lips, just tasting her.
Soon they ran out of air and had to break. She pulled away slowly and only far enough to look up into his eyes. The soft yellow light from the small lamp glinted in the green of her eyes, giving them a magical glow.
"Danny..."
"Shhhh" He didn't want words to ruin this moment. There was nothing to say anyway. He had voiced his love, but he didn't need her to. She had told him with her kisses, with her looks.
They stayed there for a few moments, in each other's embrace, until Daniel's knees started to get sore from his own weight. He got to his feet, pulling her with him.
"You should get something to eat" he said lightly, knowing she probably hadn't even thought of going down to the cafeteria all day.
"Come on, I'll go with you" She blinked a couple of times and looked around the room. She'd retreated there to be closer to her brother, but she didn't feel the need for that reassurance now. Now, she had a different kind of support.
Before they could leave though, the door opened and one of the guards from the lab that Jack, Teal'c and Sam had been moved to stuck his head in.
"Sorry to bother you, sir," he said, "But they need you in the lab" Daniel looked down at Jackie and saw the hope and the anxiousness in her eyes. He led her down to the lab where they joined the General and Janet.
"They're awake" Janet nodded through the glass down at the three beds in the room. All three patients were thrashing around in their beds, screaming at the nurses ignoring them to be released.
"You'll never get away with it!" Jack yelled.
"Murderers!" Sam added.
"Sho'va!" Teal'c yelled menacingly. Jackie backed away from the glass and into Daniel who put a hand on her shoulder.
"Doctor, tell me you've got something" Hammond pleaded. Janet looked remorseful.
"I'm sorry" she said directly to Jackie, and then turned to the General, "Everything I try...as soon as one cluster dies, another cluster moves into the empty space. There's nothing I can give them that would make enough head way to do anything" Jackie shuddered in Daniel's arms. They all looked down at their friends, who continued to rant.
"What will happen to them?" Jackie asked.
"If the pathogens continue to increase at the rate they are" Janet paused, "I'd say they have a week. Maybe ten days" Everybody was silent.
"How could this have happened?" General Hammond muttered quietly. He looked at Jackie with a painful expression. She, however, was not sharing it. Instead she was gazing intently down at her raving brother with an expression the General had come to recognize as one that Daniel had right before he thought of something brilliant.
"Cursed to destroy themselves, the bearer of the snakes" she said quietly. Fraser and Hammond furled their brows.
"What?" The General asked.
"Cursed to destroy themselves, the bearer of snakes" Jackie repeated, this time more strongly. A light went on in Daniel's head.
"Of course" he said, "Of course"
"Doctor, what is she talking about?" Hammond asked. Daniel disengaged himself from Jack's sister and walked toward the glass before he turned back to the General.
"Sir, what if the Ferlings somehow devised a virus that increased the level of the goa'uld's already inherent paranoia?" Daniel said, sounding excited that they may have found a cause, at the very least.
"They become more and more paranoid until they destroy each other" Hammond expounded.
"Yes." Jackie agreed.
"If the virus was meant for the goa'uld why has it attacked them?" Janet asked.
"You said it yourself" Daniel told her, "Naquida. It detects the presence of a goa'uld through the naquida in their blood. They've all carried symbiots at some point in time"
"You're suggesting that this virus was contained within the jar. None of them handled the jar, how did they get it?" Hammond asked.
"Carright" Jackie said, "They said he was wet. He must've opened the jar, contracted the virus, and passed it to them when he attacked Sam"
"Then how did he get it?" Janet raised the question, "It attaches to naquida in the blood stream, why would it have attacked him?"
"Maybe it didn't" Daniel suggested, "Maybe it just built up in him until it started to affect him too. Until the levels were so high he could pass it through a tactile contact"
"Doctor?"
"It's possible, sir" Janet answered the General.
"That means the jar is the key" Jackie said, "Maybe there's some kind antidote hidden in all those engravings" There was a hopeful glint in her eyes.
"If there is, I'd love to have it" Janet said.
Jackie and Daniel flew down to his office and started pouring over the photos from the jar. Five days passed without them finding a single thing. Meanwhile, Jack, Teal'c and Sam continued to worsen. On the sixth day Janet had them sedated, and ordered that they remain sedated for their own safety. They had all gouged their wrists and ankles, and bruised their shoulders with their thrashing. They refused to eat and Jack had even bitten one of the orderlies that had tried to feed him.
It was late at night and neither Daniel nor Jackie had left his office for almost twenty four hours. Janet had ordered food taken down to them but neither had done more than nibble at it.
Daniel threw his pencil at the desk. It bounced and fell to the floor.
"There's nothing here!" he cried, rubbing his face in frustration.
"I know" Jackie agreed, staring, unseeing, at the notes she'd been stringing together, trying to break a code that just wasn't there, "It's just gibberish. Just pretty little symbols to throw us all off" Daniel let defeat wash over him. Jackie just continued to stare at the table.
"They're going to die"