Author's Note: Nah, there won't be a romance between Jack and Janet in this story.
As it turned out, Fraiser hadn't needed to put him out, after all. She found what she was looking for less than half an hour after returning to his room, a steaming cup of coffee in her hand. Under Jack's watch – which should have been removed, but had been overlooked – she found a very tiny piece of something stuck into his skin. The skin around it was red, but it was almost unnoticeable, and if she hadn't been looking for it specifically, Janet knew she wouldn't have even noticed it.
"There you are..."
She took a pair of tweezers and a small specimen dish and removed the item – which looked like nothing more than a splinter of wood. Then she slathered O'Neill's wrist with antibiotics, and wrapped it tightly. Before she left the room, she ran her hand gently along his forehead and cheek – since he was asleep she didn't have to worry about him grouching about her being concerned – and she allowed a worried look to cross her normally calm face.
Removing the source of the problem was only the first step, but it was a big step. Now she had something to work with. She took her specimen dish and left the room, already thinking of a dozen tests that had to be run on the splinter.
"How is he?"
Sam, Daniel and Teal'c had all been waiting outside the door. When Janet had come from the commissary with her coffee, the three had been getting blood taken by one of the corpsmen. Apparently instead of going home, they'd waited around outside the door for her to reappear. Janet wasn't at all surprised. The calm look was back on her face, now, though. The first rule of being a doctor was make sure everyone knew you were always up to the challenge. If you looked worried, the people around you would worry, and she knew that.
"I found the cause..." She held up the dish.
"So he's getting better?" Daniel asked, looking hopeful.
Janet shook her head. If only it were that simple!
"I have to run tests on this, and see what it is about it that instigated the infection. Once I know that, then I'll have something to work with."
"Is he still fevered?" Sam asked.
Janet nodded.
"His condition is the same. The fever isn't getting worse – that's the good news. The bad news is that his lungs are getting congested, and if that continues we'll have to drain them, and then put him on a respirator. But that's only if things get worse," Janet added, seeing the worried expressions on their faces.
"Can we see him?"
"He's sleeping, Sam." Besides, she didn't want anyone exposed to him any longer than necessary. "You can see him later, okay? When he wakes up."
It was obvious that Carter didn't like that, but Janet didn't give her a chance to argue.
"I need to go take care of this," she said, holding up the specimen. "You three need to clear out of the infirmary. Go get some coffee or something if you're going to stick around. I'll keep you informed of what I find, and I'll let you know when he wakes up." It should be a few hours, at least. Which would give her time to find out a few things of her own.
Without waiting for a reply – mainly because she didn't want to see the worried looks in their eyes any longer – Janet took her splinter and went to the lab. She'd also check and see if the results of O'Neill's latest white blood count were back, which would tell her if their antibiotics were doing any good – or if his own immune system was managing to take control of the infection.
The results were in, but the news wasn't that great. The white cell count was still high. It could have been worse, though, Janet decided, looking at the lab results. He was fighting it, she knew. The count wasn't going up – which showed that the Colonel was at least putting up a fight. Maybe being so stubborn wasn't such a bad thing after all. At least in this instance.
She called one of the corpsmen over, and told her to bump up the antibiotics they were giving O'Neill, and then she got to work.