A/N: Again, I am not a medical doctor, so what I will write about in this story is either gathered from the internet or made up on my own.

A/N #2: The text in italics is a flashback.

A/N #3: A huge, huge thank you again to the many people who left me reviews: Moon's Tear, RaeAnne, SarahKathryn, Arnold Summers, sugarsnap591, kbandy, moonshine44, Annabelle Crane, Teyla Sheppard

Chapter Four

Natalie was awoken by the sound of someone coughing and mumbling slightly. She opened her eyes slowly to find herself staring straight into Stephen's face. At first she was taken aback for a moment until she remembered where they were. She raised her head, feeling it spin and she started to get up out of the bed.

"Therese," Stephen said in his sleep then, putting a halt to Natalie's plans.

Turning back to look at her partner and saw the pain etched on his face. She felt a pang of sadness for him, because she knew that he was dreaming about when his sister had died. He had shown her pictures of his sister once, and she had expressed her deepest sympathies at that time…

"I know how much she meant to you Steve," Natalie said softly, looking down at the picture of Therese Connor from high school. "And I am so sorry that you had to go through that."

Taking back the picture, Stephen looked at it for a moment and then said, "There are a lot of times when you remind me of her you know."

"I do?" Natalie asked, surprised.

"Yeah, she was passionate and very caring," Stephen said. He smiled wryly before he continued saying, "Except her feelings were more about animals then yours are about humans."

"I wish I could have met her," Natalie said, a little hesitantly.

"Me too, she would have really liked you Nat," Stephen said. He pocketed the photo and then stepped forward, placing the rose he had brought on top of his sister's tombstone.

"I hope it's alright, I brought something," Natalie said then after she watched him for a moment. She walked up to stand next to him and then placed a pure white rose next to Stephen's red one. Looking up at her partner's face, she saw that he was smiling at her, which she quickly returned.

"Thank you Natalie, for everything," Stephen said gently and he pulled her into a hug.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Natalie saw that Stephen was reaching out with his hand, trying to grab at something. She thought for a second and then placed her hand in his. She watched as his fingers lightly squeezed around her and she hoped that he found some solace in her grip.

"Natalie," Stephen whispered then. He slid his hand away from hers and then started opening his eyes. "Natalie?" he asked when he was fully awake. He sat up slowly and watched her get up off the bed, running towards the kitchen. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just thirsty," Natalie said, hoping her voice wasn't betraying her emotions. Right when Stephen was waking up, she had leaned down, very tempted to place a kiss on his mouth.

"Have Miles or Eva called yet?" Stephen asked, his thoughts turning straight to the sick. "We'll need them here to help us with the ill."

"No, if they got a flight around the time I called them, then they should still be over the Pacific Ocean," Natalie said. "But I think we can manage without them for a few hours."

"Where are you going to set up a lab?" Stephen asked, gathering some fresh clothes from his suitcase.

"In the kitchens," Natalie replied, forgetting her earlier embarrassment quickly. "They're right next to the room where the victims are that way I can work and help you if you need it."

"Let's go then," Stephen said. He disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Natalie by herself in the room.

"Dr. Durant," a muffled voice called outside.

"Come in Dr. Richards," Natalie said. She watched the man walk inside and saw the look on is face. "Did anyone die?"

"No, but I thought you should know, the little girl Claire's fever has gotten higher," Dr. Richards said. "I had to confine her to a cot by herself and bound her wrists and ankles."

"She's delirious?" Stephen asked as he walked out.

"Yes sir, and her mother looks like she could head in the same direction as her daughter," Dr. Richards said. "You are Dr. Connor?"

"I am, Dr. Durant told me you were the one who found us after our accident," Stephen said, in an icy tone of voice. He had already taken a dislike to the doctor, because to him, the man seemed to be a little too interested in Natalie.

"Claire was the first to get sick Stephen," Natalie was saying then. She could tell that Stephen was angry at the man and thought wildly that maybe it was because he was jealous. "Did you manage to get blood samples?"

"Five like you asked for," Dr. Richards said, nodding. "Plus one from Claire."

"Natalie," Stephen said quickly, impatient to go. "I'll help you set up the instruments. The sooner you can do tests the better."

Nodding, Natalie walked with Stephen out of the suite and into the balmy Thailand heat. "Steve," she said, trying to walk as fast as he was. "You know that while we're here we'll need to rely on Dr. Richards. He's been the resort's doctor for six years and saw this when it started."

"Miles and Eva can use his help when they come," Stephen said brusquely. "And if you want to you can have him help you."

Staring at her partner's back as he walked towards the main building, Natalie was sure that Stephen hated Dr. Richards. But still wasn't sure if that it was because of the doctor's ineptitude or due to jealous. She shook her head and then started running to catch up to him.

"I'm hoping that what ever this is isn't communicable," Stephen said to Natalie as they pulled scrubs over their clothes and then masks on the porch of the building. "We can't afford to have one of us getting sick."

"Of course," Natalie said. She followed Stephen inside then and stopped abruptly, nearly running into his back.

"My god," Stephen said, looking over the ballroom floor. "How many people are here?"

"Nearly one hundred," an out of breath voice said behind the two doctors. "Thirty from the resort and almost seventy from the village."

"We need to get to work now," Stephen said firmly, ignoring Dr. Richards but taking in the man's words. "Natalie, come on."

While Natalie and Stephen were working on getting all their equipment set up in the kitchen nearest to the ballroom, Natalie couldn't help steal glances at her partner. He seemed to be very angry about something, and she was dying of curiosity as to what was wrong.

"I'm going out to talk to Dr. Richards," Stephen said. "I know you probably asked him what was going on when this all started, but I'll ask him myself."

"Stephen," Natalie called before he left the room. "If you want to try and talk to the girl who was first to get sick, you'll need someone to translate. She speaks only French."

"I know who to call," Stephen said, nodding to her. He walked out of the kitchen and stood at the edge of the large room. Looking at all the cots, the people there, he felt a brief sense of being overwhelmed.

"Dr. Connor," Dr. Richards said, coming up to him. "Are all your machines set up?"

"Yeah, but have someone else take those samples," Stephen said. "I need to ask you about this."

"But I can't-" Dr. Richards started to say.

Stephen cut him off by taking the vials from his hand and handing them to one of the people helping that had walked up to them. "Take that in to Dr. Durant. Dr. Richards, how did this start?"

"Well the little girl was brought in to the infirmary about two weeks ago," Dr. Richards said. "She had a fever and was shivering one minute, burning hot the next. And soon after that she began coughing."

"Where is she, I'd like to see her," Stephen said. He walked through the cots and mattresses until they reached a cot with only a small, blonde-haired girl on it. He put his stethoscope on and leaned down so he could listen to the girl's heartbeat.

"S-s'il vous plait," the girl whispered, sounding scared. "Maman, je veux ma maman."

"It's okay Claire," Stephen said soothingly even though he knew she wouldn't be able to understand him. He checked her breathing a few more times in various places on her chest and back and then pulled the stethoscope off. "She looks like she has malaria, all these people do."

"But… I've tried the normal treatments on her for malaria as soon as she came in," Dr. Richards said. "She didn't respond and I was afraid I made her worse."

"No, you didn't, because then the others wouldn't be showing the same symptoms," Stephen replied. "What medicines did you give the little girl and then the others as they came in?"

"Claire I first gave small doses of trandolpril and dalacin for the fever," Dr. Richards said, following Stephen around the maze of people. "But I thought that made her worse so I switched to quinapril and kept that for everyone else."

"Quinapril should have taken care of the fever and coughing," Stephen mused. "But it didn't in this case. There's another cause for this then. Malaria mixed in with something else."

"Is that possible?" Dr. Richards said.

"Actually yes, I handled an outbreak of malaria with cholera," Stephen replied. "It showed up in the blood tests we conducted. And we managed to keep all but two of the six people who got sick from dying."

"I guess that's why Dr. Durant said you were the best," Dr. Richards said, sounding angry. "Does this look like cholera too?"

"If that was it I would have told you as soon as I walked in here," Stephen said. "So would have Natalie. No, this is something else." He looked down at the two people on the cot near where he was standing. They were villagers, a man and a woman, and Stephen knew their fevers were running high as they were mumbling in their native tongue and shivering hard even though both had blankets covering them. "Start everyone on metric 21. That will ease the fevers and give us time to figure this thing out. The box with the medicine is probably in the back of your car still."

"I'll go get it," Dr. Richards said, nodding his head.

Stephen watched the man go and then began to walk back towards Claire, wanting to examine the girl again.

"Steve," Natalie said, coming out from the kitchen. "Stephen," she said softly once she had approached him.

"What is it?" Stephen said, helping Claire drink some water that she had been crying for.

"Miles and Eva are on their way," Natalie said. "They could get a driver like we could, Miles is behind the wheel."

"Did you tell them about the cars on the road?" Stephen asked.

"I did, they said they'll call again when they get to the road block," Natalie said. She felt the world around her blur and she closed her eyes tightly, trying to ignore it.

"Nat?" Stephen asked, standing up. He turned to look at her for the first time since she had come over and instantly became concerned. "Natalie, you look pale. What is it?"

"It's nothing," Natalie said, shaking her head. "I just didn't sleep well enough last night. How is Claire?"

"Natalie, you don't-" Stephen started to say, not satisfied with her answer.

"I'm fine," Natalie said shortly, becoming irritated. But not at Stephen, at her own self since she was feeling dizzy once more. "We have to concentrate here Stephen. Before we lose someone."

"Alright, but promise me you'll tell me if you're sick," Stephen said sternly, staring into her eyes. When she nodded, he then said, "Claire seems to be stable but her fever will probably get worse. I talked with Richards and told him to get some metric 21."

"Hopefully that will help," Natalie said. "He said something about there being a dinner the night before Claire became sick, and that the head chef here is missing."

"That can be our starting point," Stephen said, nodding. He frowned then and said, "If it's in the kitchens you're at risk of getting sick Nat."

"It's a risk Steve, I'll have to take it," Natalie said, shaking her head. She was surprised when Stephen continued frowning and had another wild thought, 'Is he worried about me getting sick because he cares for me?' But then rational thought set in and she convinced herself he didn't want to lose a member of his team because there would be less help. "I've started the blood tests going on Claire's blood, should be finished in two hours."

"Will you help me distribute the metric 21?" Stephen asked.

"Yeah, I was going to see if I could do that anyway," Natalie said, smiling slightly.

"Madame," a harsh whisper came then from the cot next to them.

The two doctors turned their heads to see that Claire was staring up at them, tears on her cheeks.

'Hello Claire, how are you feeling,' Natalie said in French, sitting on the edge of the cot.

'I feel so cold,' the little girl said crying. 'Please ma'am, I want my mother, please!'

"She said that before when I took a look at her," Stephen said, amazed at Natalie's nearly flawless French.

"She's calling for her mother," Natalie said softly. 'Claire, you must be kept here so we can keep watch over you.'

Claire looked up at Stephen and then looked back at Natalie. 'Is he your husband?'

Blushing slightly, Natalie lowered her head and was going to answer when she was interrupted by Dr. Richards coming into the building carrying a box.

"Time to get to work it looks like," Stephen said.

'Rest Claire, and I will bring you some medicine that will help,' Natalie said, patting the child's hand. She stood up and almost fell over as a wave of faintness descended upon her. She felt Stephen run up to her and she tried to push him away. "I'm fine," she kept repeating.

"No you're not," Stephen said. "Let me check you out and see if you've got what's going on here."

"You can't," Natalie protested. "You only have me to help. I'm not sick with this thing, trust me."

"I don't want to see you sick Nat," Stephen said with suck fervor that his partner stopped walking.

"Look, I know you'll miss my help if I am sick," Natalie began, her heart pounding quickly. "But I need to get this work done."

Stephen watched as Natalie moved away from him and walked over to Dr. Richards and started to open the box of medication. He was surprised at what she had said to him. He didn't care if she couldn't help him; he was worried about her being ill. He did not want to face seeing her on a cot, her face pale with illness and shivering with fever. As he joined Natalie and Dr. Richards, he made a note to himself to watch his partner closely, not wanting to lose her at all.

After a long time driving, Miles slowed the Land Rover to a stop and pointed out the windshield. "Look at those tracks," he said to Eva. "Must be where Natalie and Connor crashed."

"At least they're okay now," Eva said. She glanced past the cars that were strewn across the road in front of them and saw a man walking towards them. "That must be the resort doctor."

"Let's unload," Miles said. He got out of the car and walked with Eva to the back to get the equipment they had brought at Natalie's request.

"Dr. McCabe, Ms. Rossi?" the man said when he had approached them.

"Yeah, your Dr. Richards right?" Eva asked.

"Yes, please, we need to hurry back to the resort," Dr. Richards said. "Drs. Connor and Durant can use your help I'm sure."

"Do you have any idea what this is?" Miles said, following Eva who was following the doctor.

"The doctors seem to agree that it's malaria," Dr. Richards said. "Coupled with something else."

"Is that good or bad?" Eva asked, noticing Miles' expression.

"Depends," Miles said. "If whatever the other thing is is a mutation…"

"It'll be hard to treat?" Eva asked.

Miles nodded and then fell silent, hoping that they weren't too far from the resort.

On the ride down the mud road, Dr. Richards answered all of the questions Eva had for him about the resort and how popular it was. Finally he said, "Dr. Durant doesn't seem to be too friendly."

"When you're dealing with a serious illness like this you don't have time to stop and make friends," Miles said, looking at the doctor from his reflection in the rearview mirror.

"Is no one in the NIH human?" Dr. Richards said.

"Dr. I'm sure that you have never worked at a real hospital before," Eva said in a friendly tone of voice. When the man nodded she then said, "Well, I'm not a doctor myself, but having worked with the NIH, I can see that there are times when emotions can't get in the way of the job. Because if that happens then people may die." She felt Miles' hand close around hers and she glanced over at him, smiling slightly.

"But hopefully this time we'll keep that from happening," Miles said as he entwined his fingers with Eva's.

"Natalie, are you okay?" a voice cried, startling the doctor as she looked through a microscope.

"Eva, I'm fine," Natalie said, looking up. She saw the woman looking at her face and she shrugged. "Minor cuts. Stephen's were worse."

"I wish it didn't take so long to get here," Eva said. "You two probably could have used our help a lot quicker."

"Not that you're here, we're both glad," Natalie said. She asked Eva to bring her a bottle of a chemical to drop on the blood sample she was looking at.

"Stephen was unconscious yesterday wasn't he?" Eva asked, walking to an open box.

"Yeah, but he felt so much better today I couldn't make him stay in bed," Natalie said. "Even though I think his sleep was pretty bad last night."

"How would you know that?" Eva asked, suspicious.

"Oh, there's a shortage of rooms," Natalie said, waving her hand. "We have to share a suite, one bed. I would have slept in an armchair if Stephen hadn't told me I needed to sleep in a bed."

Eva was disappointed at that; she always had the belief that the two doctors had a strong emotional and physical attraction towards each other. "Did you get enough sleep? You look pale," she asked.

"I'm fine," Natalie said. "It's jet lag and worry… The accident was so awful, seeing Stephen unconscious was…" She shook her head and then lowered her face to the microscope.

"I would have panicked," Eva said. "But you managed to treat him and yourself."

"I'm a doctor," Natalie said. She raised her head and wrote something down on the pad of paper she had with her. "Well, this is definitely malaria."

"So that means we'll be able to treat this?" Eva asked.

"Actually not entirely," Natalie answered. "We can give them metric 21 and cytovene for the fevers, but with the other disease unknown we can't give them anything else. Too much of a risk for them."

"You can't tell what the other illness is?" Eva asked.

Taking a deep breath, Natalie shook her head. "It's not responding to any normal tests. Stephen is not going to be happy about this."

"But I'm sure he'll find the answer," Eva said. "If it's a toxin or parasite it should be easy shouldn't it?"

"I don't know," Natalie said. She got up off the chair she'd been sitting on and gripped the edge of the counter so tightly her knuckles instantly became white. "I-I think here it would be h-harder. There are a lot of things to make people sick."

"Are you okay?" Eva asked, noticing immediately that something was wrong.

"Eva, you have to go get Stephen, I am sick," Natalie said, unable to fight the faintness that was coming over her. With a gasp, she collapsed to the floor and as Eva ran to her, she whispered, "Stephen…"

Outside in the ballroom, Miles and Stephen had just finished administering the last of the medication to the sick when Eva came running from the kitchens.

"Stephen!" she cried loudly.

"What is it?" Stephen asked, his head shoot up quickly.

"It's Natalie," Eva started to say.

Before she could say another word, Stephen was running at full speed to the kitchen. When he reached the large room, he saw his partner laying on her back, her face pale and her eyes staring blankly above her. "Nat," he said gently, leaning next to her. "Can you hear me?"

"I can't, can't move," Natalie whispered. "I'm so weak Stephen."

"I'll help you Nat, I promise," Stephen said reassuringly. He carefully picked her up in his arms and turned to find Miles and Eva standing there looking at him in shock. "I don't think she has what's here. It might be blood loss like I had."

"What are you going to do?" Miles asked as Stephen started to walk out of the room and then the building.

"Give her some sulfamide, try and get her red cell count back up," Stephen said briefly. "Stay and make sure none of the sick have a bad reaction the metric." He turned his attention to the suite where he and Natalie were staying and looked down at her.

"I'm sorry," Natalie whispered in a tiny voice, looking up at him.

"Don't be, I would have been the same way," Stephen said. "Just make sure you get better, I can't read blood samples the way you do."

Natalie could only smile at that, and her smile was thin. She felt as if all the strength and energy was sucked from her body. She didn't want to be sick like this, but luckily it was only minor blood loss.

"Okay," Stephen said, placing her in the bed in the suite. "Let me get the medicine." He hurried over to the vial that Natalie had used on him the day before. He got a syringe and quickly went back to his partner.

"Stephen, the blood test from Claire," Natalie said, grimacing as she felt the needle being pushing into her skin. "There was malaria, but something else I couldn't tell what it was."

"We'll find it Nat, don't worry," Stephen said. He withdrew the syringe and then set it on the nightstand next to them. He knew that he should head back to the ill, but he wanted to make sure that Natalie would be okay.

"I think I might sleep," Natalie said as she felt her body relaxing and preparing itself for sleep.

"Good idea," Stephen said. "You'll feel better." He sat there and watched her fall asleep for a few minutes. Finally, he reached over to take her hand in his. "Get better Natalie, I'm counting on you to be by my side." He lowered his head and lightly kissed the back of her hand before he stood and left the room; Natalie's illness tugging at his heart.