Jack sprang back as if he'd been burned, and was across the room faster than a cat with its tail on fire. "Oh God. Carter. What am I... I mean… Jeeze…" Abruptly, he ran his hands through his hair, making the short strands stand on end.
Jacob Carter appeared in the entryway, his face dark with anger, obviously torn between a desire to see to his daughter or to see if any punitive action needed to be meted out against a certain Colonel. The decision was reached a moment later when the large bulk of Teal'c blocked his view of said Colonel and a plaintive voice that he'd recognize anytime, anywhere, called out, "Dad?" Sam needed him. Decision made, Jacob sat on the loveseat, sweeping his rumpled daughter into his arms.
"Sheesh Sam, you look awful." He dropped a soft kiss on her forehead relieved when he felt the slight shaking of her nervous laughter reverberate against his chest. "You ok? Did he hurt you? Because if he did, Selmak knows a few ways to unman a person…" he let the threat hang menacingly and was rewarded with a soft snort and shake of her head.
"I'm fine," she said, face still muffled against his chest.
"You sure?" He pulled her away, taking another good look. "You don't look fine." She was pale and had dark circles under her eyes, and looked like she'd just woken up. A rumpled blanket and sock clad feet further confirmed this hypothesis. Jacob frowned at this familiarity of a subordinate at her CO's, but Selmak was quick to remind him of Sam's recent illness and Dr. Fraiser's orders that SG-1 recuperate together somewhere off-base, chance causing the two to be alone at an inopportune time.
"Really Dad, I'm fine. I've just been sick, you know how I get, hibernate until it's over." She grinned ruefully, and he smiled back, remembering how she used to burrow under the covers, needing to be coaxed out with her favorite foods.
"Okay kitten, I'll let you slide. Let's find your shoes, we're going to have to get you and Colonel O'Neill back to the base." He cocked his head to where Teal'c and Daniel were already manhandling a subdued Jack out of the room. "Now, any idea where those shoes are?" When Sam just stared at him blankly, tugging her blanket around her shoulders in a move reminiscent of her long ago childhood, Jacob took a deep breath and quietly asked Selmak how one managed not to kill their own offspring, and started looking under the furniture for Sam's missing shoes.
RibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitIn the infirmary, Jack sat on one of the beds, Janet in front of him, her arms crossed, a very disappointed look on her face. "Colonel O'Neill, I distinctly recall telling you to come to me with any unusual symptoms. And I believe this counts as unusual."
Jack scowled. Then he fidgeted. And then he sighed. "What was I supposed to say Doc? That I've been thinking about Carter non-stop? That I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her senseless? What was I supposed to say? What's wrong with me Doc?" He buried his face in his hands and groaned.
Janet closed her eyes briefly. She could understand where he was coming from. For years, she had watched these two struggling to stay on just the right side of regulations. They'd been through hell, and back again for each other and their team, and she'd watched them be forced to admit how they cared for each other, "a lot more than they were supposed to" and all that other crap, and in her opinion, it just wasn't fair, and now this.
Picking up her clipboard, Janet flipped to the page bearing the incriminating results. "You have a marked increase in hormones in your blood, hormones that are responsible for controlling moods, like feelings of love and desire. In short, you are about as emotional as a lovesick teenage male, with just about as much control."
Jack looked up, the surprise written all over his features. "What do you mean? How?"
"We think it has something to do with your recent transformation. Daniel was able to translate a few more of the inscriptions from the temple, seems like its an intentional side effect, the person would become fixated on whoever was responsible for reversing the process…"
A rather disturbed look crossed Jack's face, and he interrupted suddenly. "Uh, you mean if Teal'c or Danny had kissed me instead of Carter, I, uh, would of…"
Knowing what he was fumbling for, Janet hastened to respond. "Actually, it doesn't really say one way or the other. In any case," Janet decided it would be best to stick to the facts, "we may have a way to reverse the effects."
Jack raised an eyebrow, relief mixed with doubt over any possible cure. "You do?"
"We think a few days on high doses of the female hormone estrogen will help counteract the unusually high levels of the male hormones your experiencing, and will allow your body to adjust on it's own, and eventually go back to normal."
"Ah, female hormones." Jack blinked dubiously.
"It's that, or we lock you up in the brig for a month. Daniel was pretty sure that was how long it said the effects take to wear off on their own. Something about propagation, and creation, the circle of life, childbirth…"
"Ok, ok, I get it" Jack waved his hands frantically, not wanting to hear any more, especially if it had to do with childbirth.
"And not to mention we should probably keep you away from Jacob. He wasn't very happy."
"Female hormones it is." Jack frowned, suddenly thinking of something. "Say, this won't make me have hot flashes will it?"
Janet turned from where she was already preparing a syringe of the hormone, knowing Jack would have come to her way of thinking. "Oh, no. No hot flashes." She approached him with the syringe, which Jack eyed suspiciously, and so missed the mischievous glint in her eye. "But you should be warned it can cause some pretty powerful mood swings." With that, she deftly injected the hormone, smirking over Jack's disgruntled, "D'oh!"
RibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitJacob Carter entered his on base guest quarters, and wearily closed the door behind him. It had been a long day, first convincing the Tok'ra high council to let him come bring vital intelligence so that the Tauri might work to develop a weapon against Anubis new super soldiers, only to have the situation with his daughter and Jack O'Neill literally falling into his lap. He'd just spent the last two hours letting George Hammond convince him not to kill one Colonel Jack O'Neill slowly and painfully, although he'd never admit that he'd been convinced the moment he'd seen Sam was fine. Still, it was fun letting Hammond think he needed convincing.
Jacob sighed, right now however, all he wanted was to put his feet up, and get a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, something else seemed to be occupying his comfortable bed.
'It seems we will be sleeping on the couch, Jacob,' commented Selmak's voice wryly.
Looking down at the sleeping form, Jacob just shook his head, and then gently adjusted the covers before bending to brush a kiss on his daughter's forehead. She must have come looking for him and fallen asleep waiting.
'Your daughter is a remarkable woman.'
Jacob couldn't agree more. 'Yeah, that she is, that she is.' He smiled at his sleeping daughter one last time before turning away, finding some extra blankets and heading for the room's small, narrow couch.
'Has she always been this way when sick?' Selmak's tone was curious, as the Tok'ra had never seen this side of Jacob's daughter before.
Jacob chuckled softly, and then shared a few memories with his symbiote of the time Sam had been five, and had some stomach bug not unlike this one. He had only just returned from an extended deployment, the babysitter had cancelled, and his wife had to take Mark to some sort of school function only the two of them had understood, which left him alone to deal with one very small, very miserable little girl that was a bit uncomfortable around a man she hadn't seen in a very long time and only vaguely knew as her father. Jacob had never really dealt with the less than sunny side of his small, blonde daughter, so seeing her sick had been a bit of an eye opener for him. Sharing the memory, Jacob was still able to feel amazement at this ability to share complete thoughts and emotions with another living being. He felt Selmak's amusement over Sam's behavior as a child.
'It would seem your daughter had her own version of a healing trance.' Jacob snorted out loud at the observation.
'Yeah, her mother was the same way.' Jacob grew quiet, and so did Selmak, as Jacob's thoughts mulled over the day's events. He knew Sam had feelings for her CO, he'd have to be blind not to see it, they'd been a strong team for such a long time, which was unusual in itself. He knew Sam was strong, he just wondered if she was strong enough for this.
RibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitRibbitJack lay awake in the infirmary, long after the lights had been dimmed, and the night shift nurses had retreated to the nurses' station to work on paperwork. The only other patient was asleep in a bed several beds away from his, like Jack was supposed to be, so Jack was alone with his thoughts.
Rolling over onto his side, Jack faced the wall, and thought about what he'd done, and about what he'd been about to do. Hormones or not, he'd crossed the line, and taken advantage of the trust his second in command placed in him. He wondered what she would think of him when she saw him next. Would she look at him with accusation in her eyes? Would she flinch away? Would she even be able to stand to be in the same room with him? Or would she understand?
Somehow, Jack thought that would be worse. Years ago, they'd left it all in the room. They'd worked so hard, her calling him sir until he hated the word, and he calling her Carter like it was a piece of furniture or her job or rank or something, not her name. All very professional, they were soldiers. He gave orders, she followed them and that was how it worked, and there was no room for feelings, not while they were in the military, and one of them could get killed, or left behind.
But wasn't that all the more reason to tell each other how they really felt? With a groan, Jack flopped onto his back, staring up at the dim gray ceiling, cursing his life, cursing the military and its stupid regulations, cursing the Goa'uld, cursing the stupid war, cursing his own cowardice for not being able to admit how he felt.
As soon as he thought it, he knew he couldn't tell her how he really felt, because it would hurt her even more than telling her it hadn't been real. Because they couldn't act on their feelings, the war needed them too much right now. Yeah, sure, he could retire, but he wouldn't, because it was too selfish of him. He wouldn't be able to sleep at night, thinking of his team, of her, of Danny, and Teal'c, of all the SG teams going out through that Gate every stinkin' day without him all because of his own selfish desires. And so he'd make his knees keep holding him up so he could watch their sixes, as long as he could, until they made him stop going through the gate.
And he wouldn't let Sam step down either, and take up a science position. They needed her right where she was; right there on the front line, kicking Goa'uld ass, and Replicator butts, and well, whatever else they came up against out there. Somehow he doubted she'd give up that frontline position anyway, she was too much like him. He suspected a little piece of her died too, every time one of their own came home in a bag, and he knew he couldn't ask her to stop going through that gate either, just for him, for them. Breaking up SG-1 was just as unthinkable. They weren't just a team. They were a family. And he knew the regulations wouldn't change, they were there for a reason.
So that just left one thing. The problem was, would he be able to live with himself for hurting her?