"Dr. Carter?" came an unfamiliar female voice.
"Major," she corrected automatically. "I'm sorry, who is this?"
"This is the nurse at Cassandra's school."
"What?"
The voice grew more annoyed. "Her file clearly stated that in the event of an emergency, we were to call you."
"Yes, I mean, what happened? Is she okay?"
The nurse filled her in.
"I'll be right there," she promised, hanging up the phone on her way out the door.
She bumped into Daniel on her way down the hall. "Whoa, what's the rush?" he asked as she ran past, adjusting his pace to match.
"I have to go to Cassie's school," she said, pulling on her coat. "Apparently she flipped out, went into hysterics. The nurse is trying to get her calmed down. But she kept saying to call me."
"Want me to tag along?" he asked.
A little moral support might not be such a bad thing, she decided. "Sure, why not?"
Ten minutes later, they were in the nurse's office, the security guard still chasing them down the hall with visitors' passes in hand. Thankfully, the nurse stopped him at the door.
"Cassie's over there." She pointed to a bed with the curtains drawn around it.
"Cassie?" Sam called tentatively, moving closer.
She heard a strangled sob. "Sam?" Cassie's head came into view. "Sam, I'm so glad you're here." She pushed the curtain away.
"What's going on here?" Sam asked, taking a seat on the bed.
"It's Dominic."
"Dominic, your boyfriend, Dominic?" asked Daniel.
"Ex-boyfriend," she corrected. "I don't know how it happened, but I felt it." Her speech was getting more rapid and hysterical.
"Calm down," said Sam. "Felt what?"
"He's a Goa'uld."
Daniel's jaw fell open in shock. Sam stared.
"That's – " That's impossible, she was about to say, but the past seven years' experience had taught her that nothing was impossible. 'Are you sure?' she wanted to ask, but Cassie wasn't one to react this way if it wasn't serious, even considering...current circumstances.
"Are you okay?" she asked instead.
Cassie nodded. "I'm fine. It was just – it was a shock, that's all." Her breathing was gradually becoming steadier.
Sam hugged her tightly, rubbing Cassie's hair as the teenager rested her head on Sam's shoulder. "Don't worry, Cass. I'll take care of it. Is it okay if Daniel stays with you for a little bit while I go talk to Dominic?"
Cassie's grip tightened reflexively, not wanting to let Sam leave, but slowly she relaxed and let go. "All right. Just – come back?" She raised slightly worried eyes, and Sam was reminded of the frightened little girl that she had held in her arms. Had it really been that long?
Sam gave her a reassuring squeeze. "I will. I promise." She glanced at Daniel, who nodded and took her place on the bed.
"Do you know where I could find Dominic?" she asked the nurse.
The nurse, a severe-looking woman of about fifty, regarded her haughtily through a tiny pair of reading glasses that balanced precariously on the end of her nose. "Excuse me?"
"Dominic," Sam repeated patiently. "He was with Cassie this morning. I'd like to ask him what happened."
The nurse waved a hand dismissively. "We already know what happened."
"I'm sorry, but you don't."
"Excuse me?" Apparently, the nurse had never met anyone who doubted her judgment. Either that or she had a very limited vocabulary.
"I need to see Dominic," Sam explained again, growing more annoyed by the second. "Do you know where he is, or should I find someone more helpful?"
The nurse gave her a look of undisguised distaste. "I'll call the main office and they'll have him come down."
"Thank you." The nurse waited for Sam to leave, realized she wouldn't, and reluctantly picked up the phone to make the call.
A few minutes later, Dominic stuck his head in the door. Even though it had been two years since she had seen him, Sam recognized him immediately. He looked around uncertainly. When he saw Sam, he stopped.
"Do I know you?"
"I'm Sam. I'm a friend of Cassie's," Sam said. "We met a couple of years ago at her birthday party."
A look of horror came over his face as he remembered. "This doesn't have anything to do with that, does it?"
"I hope not. Why don't you come in?"
Dominic looked around, realized he was still standing in the doorway, and sheepishly walked over to Sam. She concentrated, feeling for the presence of naquadah.
Nothing.
Well, she did say she wanted to talk to him. She coughed. "Um, I know this must have been..."
"Weird?" Dominic supplied.
Sam grinned in spite of herself. "Yeah, weird. I wanted to ask you what happened."
He shrugged. "I dunno, really. I told her I was sorry about her mom. She snapped at me. Hey, I would, too. I guess she's been feeling pretty crappy lately. And all of a sudden she freaks out, starts screaming. I don't know what I did."
"She said you touched her."
"Look, it wasn't like that, okay? I tapped her shoulder to get her attention. Just like this." He touched Sam's shoulder lightly.
She felt it.
Sam jumped, and Dominic jerked his hand away. "I'm sorry!"
"It's okay," she assured him, trying to calm down. Her mind was racing. He definitely had naquadah in his blood. But why hadn't she been able to sense it until he was so close? And why hadn't he shown any signs of sensing her naquadah, or Cassie's?
She couldn't take him for tests; that would be too suspicious. They needed to come up with a cover story. They could have someone tail Dominic until then, to make sure he didn't try to escape.
"Thanks, Dominic," she said.
Dominic scribbled something down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. "That's my phone number," he said. "Could you tell me how she's doing?"
"I will," she promised.
When Dominic left, she rushed to tell Daniel and Cassie what she had felt.
"So is he a Goa'uld?" Daniel asked.
"I don't know," Sam admitted. "I didn't sense it until he touched me, so I don't think it's a high concentration. But we've seen symbiotes without naquadah before, so I don't know if that means anything."
"So what are we doing?" asked Cassie.
"You're coming back with us to the SGC," said Sam. "And we'll think of some excuse to get blood samples from all the students and faculty. Maybe we can figure out what's going on here."