Author's note: These chapters are a little shorter than usual, I suppose, but I usually just stop a chapter when it's a good place. So I hope you all will bear with me.

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"How is he, Doctor?" Hammond asked when Fraiser walked into the briefing room. Sam, Daniel and Teal'c were there as well, all waiting to hear what was going on with Jack – despite Daniel's earlier banter with the man, they were all concerned.

"His tests are showing high levels of white blood cells, Sir," Janet said, coming over and sitting down, and looking through the chart that she'd carried in with her. A chart that she'd already memorized. "White blood cells are a sure indication of infection, and with the fever he has, it's obvious he has an infection. I'm just not sure what the cause of it is, so I can't do anything but give him a general antibiotic to try and fight it, until the blood test results come back, and hopefully give me a more precise area to concentrate on." She looked over at Sam and Daniel. "Neither of you feel feverish?"

Carter shook her head.

"I feel fine."

"Me, too."

"Did the Colonel do anything the two of you didn't?" She didn't bother to ask Teal'c. The Jaffa had Junior, so even if he'd become infected somehow with whatever it was that was affecting Jack, there'd be no trace of it. His symbiote would have him healthy before the infection had taken hold.

"He hovered a lot," Daniel said, shrugging. "Just like he always does."

Sam nodded her agreement.

"How is he?"

"He's sleeping."

"Really?"

That was a surprise. Daniel had made it sound like Jack was ready to come crashing into the briefing room any minute, demanding to be released from the infirmary to go home.

Janet nodded.

"He didn't eat anything?"

Sam shook her head.

"There wasn't anything to eat."

Daniel nodded his agreement.

"I didn't even have a bug fly in my mouth or anything."

"Were there a lot of insects there?"

"No. No more than anywhere else, and none seemed to be bothering us."

She'd already asked them these questions, so Janet knew the answers, but she'd been hoping that by asking them again, maybe they'd remember something previously forgotten. A small hope with Sam and Daniel, but something she had to try. She looked over at Teal'c, but the Jaffa shook his head.

"I did not observe anything that would explain O'Neill's present condition."

"What are you doing for him, now, Doctor?" Hammond asked.

"I have him on antibiotics, and I'm keeping him hydrated with an IV. The fever is high, but not dangerously so – yet – and I'll retake a white blood cell count in a couple of hours to see if we're gaining any ground on the infection." She shrugged, obviously frustrated. "I'll have to wait for the blood tests before I try anything else."

"A couple of hours, then?"

"Yes, Sir."

Hammond nodded, and sighed. He didn't like what was going on anymore than Fraiser did.

"Keep me informed."

"Yes, Sir."

Hammond stood up and headed for his office. It was two O'clock on a Friday afternoon, and he had a lot of paperwork to finish.

"Can I see him?" Sam asked.

Janet shook her head.

"He needs to sleep, Sam. The more rest he gets, the better, most likely. Besides, if you wake him up, then I'll have to deal with his attitude, and he's very grouchy right now."

Carter smiled, despite herself. No one ever voluntarily offered to deal with O'Neill when he was at his worst.

"Is there anything we can do?" Daniel asked.

"I'm going to do another round of blood work on the two of you – three of you – before you go home for the weekend." Might as well include Teal'c – who knew, maybe something would come up. "Just to make sure your counts are normal, still."

There were nods all around, and the four of them headed back to the infirmary – although not to the isolated room that Jack was resting in, on the off chance that whatever it was that had him down was contagious. Janet was positive it wasn't, but she'd decided that it would be better to minimize the exposure the rest of the staff had to him.

She drew blood from each of them, and then immediately kicked them all out of her infirmary. They had things they needed to get done, after all. Sam always had a doohickey to work on, and Daniel never ran out of things to translate. She had things to do as well.

"You'll call if he wakes up?" Daniel asked, before Sam could.

"Yes."

She shooed them away, and handed the blood samples over to one of the medical technicians so he could take them to be tested. Then she went into back into O'Neill's room.

She stood there looking at him for a long time. His breathing was a little raspy, which was a new development since the last time she'd been in there – a sure sign that whatever the infection was, it was in his lungs, now, as well. A quick listen with her stethoscope confirmed it. They were congested, that was certain. Nothing too serious – again, yet – but she wanted to stop it before it could get that way. But to stop it, she had to know what was causing it.

With a frown, Janet pulled his blanket down to his waist, baring his bare chest and upper body. She put a headlamp on to give her extra light, and pulled a chair in close and sat down. Then she began a methodical search of his skin, starting with his hair and scalp. What she was looking for was a cut that they might have missed, or a scrape, or any kind of wound – however small. If it was the culprit, chances were it'd be red and slightly swollen, but Janet wasn't taking any chances. Anything out of the ordinary would be examined carefully.