Janet was moving so fast down the hall that she practically slid to a stop when she reached the fever ward. Her eyes went directly to Daniel, who was lying peacefully in his bed.
Perhaps a little too peacefully, she thought with a feeling of dread settling in the pit of her stomach. Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c were standing off to the side looking rather shaken, which she took to be a very bad sign.
"Andrew?" she cried as she rushed to Daniel's side.
"Janet." Andrew was already approaching her from the bedside of another of his patients. "Thank God you're here."
She could only stare at him in confusion. Thank God she was here? He'd been the one to kick her out in the first place! What the hell was going on?
"What the hell is going on?" she demanded. She pressed her fingertips to Daniel's neck, and to her great relief, felt a pulse. A very weak, rapid pulse, accompanied by quick breaths that barely moved his chest they were so shallow. Bad... this was very bad.
"The seizures started a few minutes ago," Andrew told her gently. "I've given him the same drugs we gave the others, but they've had little or no effect. During the last one, he went into arrest. I had to defibrillate."
"What?!"
The doctor sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Janet. I don't think his body can handle much more of this. I think the next seizure is likely to be his last."
Janet's jaw dropped in horror and she looked back down at Daniel in numb silence. How did this happen so fast?
"Would you like us to... give you a moment?"
She shot him a glare at this tentative question. "You mean, to say goodbye?" she challenged.
Carmichael shrugged slightly and gave her arm a sympathetic squeeze. "If it comes to that... yes," he replied. "I'm sorry, Janet."
She nodded. There wasn't much else she could do.
"The sedative is finally working now; that's why he's resting peacefully. If he starts to..."
"I'll call you over," she interrupted. She hated being treated like some patient's frantic, unstable next of kin. She just wanted to be left alone with Daniel as quickly as possible.
He nodded, gave her arm another squeeze, and motioned for Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c to follow him to the other side of the room.
Once they were gone, she sat down in the chair by Daniel's bed. She was relieved to find that his right arm and leg were now free, presumably so he could be rolled onto his side if the need arose. This thought made her shudder. The need had arisen, and she hadn't been there.
She took his free hand in hers and pressed it to her cheek just above her mask. His fever was burning hot even in the back of his hand, but she didn't take it away from her bare skin. She needed to feel him now, needed to know he was still alive for whatever time he had left.
With her other hand she began stroking his soaking wet hair. He looked so peaceful and so flushed with his fever that it made him look much younger than he really was. She wanted nothing more than to cradle him in her arms and rock him like a child until his nightmares were over. Unfortunately, all she could do was sit there, holding his hand and desperately praying to find a way to ease his suffering.
The setting was all too familiar. She had been in this place many times before - sitting vigil at Daniel's bedside as he fought for his life. This time, though, it was different. Their relationship was different. If she lost him now, it would leave a much bigger hole in her life than when she thought she had lost him two years earlier. Part of her wished she could erase the past few months just to spare her this added pain, but another part of her clung to those memories like a life preserver on a stormy sea.
"I also... I don't regret... our time together."
She could almost hear his voice repeating the words he had spoken just hours before, and remembering the moment they'd shared back in the quarantine room gave her renewed strength now. She must never allow herself to regret loving Daniel. Never. No matter what, their relationship had not been a mistake.
If only that resolve made the thought of losing him easier to handle.
A slight movement from the man in the bed brought her mind back to the present. The worry lines between Daniel's eyes were creased, and he turned his head a little to one side.
Janet leaned forward and touched her fingertips to his face. "Daniel?" she whispered.
He scrunched his face up even more and tossed his head to the other side. The movement made Janet feel slightly uneasy about the fact that he wasn't completely restrained. She didn't want another black eye or a repeat performance of what had gotten her kicked out of the ward earlier.
"Daniel?" she tried again as he grew more restless. "Just stay calm, okay? I'm here. Everything's going to be okay."
"Mmnh..." Daniel muttered. "Unf... drmsh..."
His incoherent babbling just made Janet feel even worse. These may be her last moments with him, and his mind was completely gone? How much more unfair could the universe get? "It's okay, Daniel," she repeated over and over as his mumbling continued.
Soon one bloodshot blue eye cracked open and peered up at her fearfully.
"Hey there," she said, trying to sound as casual as possible. She stroked his cheek with her thumb and hoped her smile was showing in her eyes enough to reassure him. "That sedative really doesn't last long in you, does it?"
Both eyes flew wide open as she spoke, and he squirmed frantically to get away from her. "Help me," he gasped. "Help... help... help me..."
"Shhh, it's alright, Daniel. It's Janet. I'm not going to hurt you."
"No," he groaned as his eyes drifted shut again. He seemed to be fighting to wake up, but the sedative was demanding that he sleep. "P'ease no... 's too soon..."
His words were so slurred they were barely understandable, but Janet could make out that much. "Too soon?" she repeated. "Too soon for what?"
"P'ease... don' le' me die... don' le' me die..." He wrenched his hand away from her and waved it weakly in the air as though trying to swat something away.
Janet grabbed the flailing hand in both of hers and clasped it tightly to his chest. "You're not going to die, Daniel," she said firmly. "Do you hear me? I need you to keep fighting for me. Don't you ever give up, do you understand?"
He began to shiver so hard that within moments his teeth were chattering noisily. "S'tired..."
"Daniel?"
"Can't... help me..."
"Hold on, Daniel," she begged. Tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill down her cheeks, but she held them back with great effort. This was not the time to break down again.
"Help..." he whispered as his eyes rolled back into his head. Within a split second, his shivers ceased and he became as stiff as a board. His hand clamped so hard around Janet's that she let out a gasp of pain and jumped to her feet.
"Andrew!"
He appeared at her elbow so fast that he must have already been on his way over to them when she called. "Roll him onto his side," he instructed.
Janet was way ahead of him. By the time the violent muscle spasms started, Janet had kicked back into full doctor mode, and Daniel was on his side facing away from her. She held onto him and waited breathlessly for the seizure to come to an end. She only hoped that Andrew had been wrong - that he was still strong enough to handle this and come through it.
Unfortunately, Andrew had been right. After a few agonizing seconds, the spasms suddenly stopped and Daniel went frighteningly still.
"Dammit," Carmichael muttered. Janet could only look on in shock as he laid his fingers on Daniel's neck. "Nothing. Turn him onto his back. Nurse Penner? I'm gonna need your help here." His movements were swift and confident as he charged the defibrillator and prepared the paddles.
Janet stepped back without a word to let Nurse Penner in to help him. Never before had she felt so helpless.
She was vaguely aware of someone's arm wrapping around her shoulders, but she couldn't take her eyes away from Daniel. Every jolt of electricity that went through him went through her heart as well. Every time his body lurched with the shock, everything inside her twisted painfully until her insides were tied up in one big knot.
"Still no pulse. Again."
At this statement, everything around her started to go dark. She felt herself begin to sway, and the next thing she knew, she was falling to the ground.
Janet's last conscious thought was that she should have hit something hard, but instead was the surreal feeling that she was floating.
"This is as far as we are permitted to go," Meese said as they arrived at a high chain-link fence about a mile away from the Stargate. Well, this planet's equivalent to a chain-link fence, anyway.
"I think this once we can break the 'no trespassing' rule, don't you agree?" Sam passed her flashlight to Dr. Holmes and gripped the fence with her fists to test its strength. When she found it was quite sturdy, she began to climb. Flashbacks of sneaking into her neighbour's yard to toilet paper their house one Halloween came to her mind, but she shoved the memory aside and focused on the matter at hand.
Once she reached the top, she draped one leg over to the other side, hauled the rest of her body after it, and jumped to the ground. "Piece of cake," she said. "Who's next?"
Dr. Holmes passed their two flashlights through the fence to Sam, and then scaled the fence in three seconds flat. Meese wasted no time in following their lead, and soon they were on their way again.
"It is just through there," Meese told them as they reached a clump of trees. A very dark clump of trees. Sam noted with unease that Meese was looking rather squeamish.
"You can stay here while we check it out if you want to," she offered.
"No... no, I will go with you," he replied, licking his dry lips and wringing his hands nervously. "It was I who led you here, and I will accept full blame if the magistrate takes objection."
Sam smiled appreciatively at him, knowing what it must have taken for him to say that. "Okay, then," she said. "Let's go."
She led the way into the stand of trees, careful to keep an eye on where she was stepping. She had only gone a few feet in when she stopped and stared in amazement at what lay before her.
In the midst of a small clearing, not five feet away from her, nestled a miniature replica of the temple on Kheb.
"Oh my God," she breathed as she stepped closer and shone her flashlight over its simplistic design.
"Major?" Dr. Holmes asked warily.
Sam shook her head in wonder. "I don't think it was the Goa'uld who made this," she said. As she stepped close enough to the structure to see the detail on the outer wall clearly, every doubt in her mind was laid to rest. "Look at these symbols... it's Ancient!"
"Ancient?" Meese asked, confused.
"Yes. It was an alien race called the Ancients who built the Stargate system," she explained. "It looks like they built this place, too. Is there a door?"
Meese looked hesitant for a moment, but he led them around to one side of the building and motioned towards a small doorway that was almost invisible under the low roof.
"Alright," Sam said with a sigh as she tried to calm her nerves, "we'd better go in MOP2. Meese, you'd better put your mask and gloves back on."
Sam and Dr. Holmes took their helmets and gloves out of their packs, and the three of them geared up in silence. Sam was the first one ready, and she made her way cautiously over to the door.
It was low enough that she almost had to duck her head to enter, and she could just imagine Daniel rushing excitedly inside and whacking the top of his head on the doorframe. This thought sobered her, as it brought it home to her that he may never be able to accompany SG-1 on their off-world missions again.
With renewed determination, she led the way into the structure, hoping and praying with all
her might that the answer might lie inside.
To be continued...