Chapter 16: Dinner's End

Dinner passed quickly, and it was enjoyable. When the crowd cleared out, Mary brought four lemon tarts and sat them on the table. SG-1 looked at her in puzzlement; none had ordered a desert.

"What's this?" Jack asked.

"Lemon tarts, what's it look like?" Mary asked with a smile.

"I know what they are, but . . . " Jack began.

"You didn't order them. Yeah, I know, I figured I'd do something nice for my favorite customer. They're on the house, freshly made. Maybe it'll give you a reason not to stay away so long next time, Jack." Mary replied.

"Thanks, I was telling them about your lemon tarts before we got here."

"Well, now they have an opportunity to taste them for themselves. Enjoy!" Mary said and took the tray back into the kitchen after SG-1 had taken their tarts.

Jonas bit into the tart and smiled after he'd swallowed.

"These are very good." He said.

"Told ya so." O'Neill replied with triumph.

Sam smiled at O'Neill's behaviour; he was acting like a kid who'd just gotten a 100 percent on a math test.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Sir?" Sam responded.

"You've got that funny look on your face, the look that says you're thinking something, but you don't want to say it." O'Neill said, his eyes narrowing in curiosity.

"No, sir. I wasn't thinking anything."

"Of course you were, you're always thinking about something." Jack stated.

Teal'c and Jonas watched the exchange in silence, casting each other curious glances as the bantering continued.

Mary swept from the kitchen then, and came over to the table with an expectant look on her face.

"Well?" She asked. "Are they everything Jack told you they were? Y'know, he tends to exaggerate at times." Mary said, sneaking Jack an amused glance. O'Neill clutched his chest.

"Oh that hurts, Mary. You cut me deep." Jack said dramatically.

"Yes, well, it's only the truth. Now shut your mouth and let your friends talk." Mary teased with a sly smile on her face.

Jack appeared falsely insulted and quieted to allow the others to talk.

"They're very good, Mary." Jonas said, finishing the last bite of his own. Sam and Teal'c nodded in agreement.

"Good to hear." Mary said and pulled a slip from her pocket.

"Now who's gonna pay me?" She teased.

"I've got it, Mary." Jack said holding his hand out.

"Well, perhaps there is a gentleman underneath all that hard air force exterior. Here ya go." Mary handed Jack the slip and the Colonel turned it over.

The bill wasn't expensive, a little more than twenty dollars, and Jack dug the money out of his pocket.

"Thanks, Mary. It was a pleasure, as always." O'Neill said and stood. Mary moved to the cash to deposit the money, and Jack threw a five-dollar bill on the tabletop as a tip.

"Let's go." O'Neill replied. He started toward the door.

"Don't stay away so long this time, Jack!" Mary called.

Jack looked back. "I won't. See you next time, Mary." He called and led the way outside.

Jonas was the last out, and he took a few steps forward and had to grab the open door as the café spun around him. He blinked rapidly a few times, but the dizzy feeling didn't fade.

"You okay, Honey?" Mary called, seeing Jonas reach hurriedly for the door, and sway on his feet. She rushed over to help him, and grabbed him around the waist.

SG-1 stopped their crossing, and looked back to see Mary supporting Jonas around the waist. They hurried back.

"Come on now, just sit down here for a bit. I'll get you a glass of water." Mary replied, easing Jonas into a nearby chair and running to the kitchen.

Jack knelt in front of Jonas, and caught the glassy look in his eyes. As he was focused on Jonas, he visibly saw the color drain from the young man's face.

"Jonas? What's wrong?" Sam asked, also catching the disoriented look that crossed Jonas's face.

Mary came back, holding a large glass of water in her hands. She knelt in front of Jonas and handed him the glass. He took it in shaking hands, and drank from it. Some of the color returned to his face, but not much.

Mary reached a gentle hand to brush across Jonas's cheek, and pulled it back in a hurry.

"Goodness honey, you're burning up!" She said in alarm.

Sam reached over, lay her hand against Jonas's face, and nodded in agreement.

"Murray, would you be a darling and switch the sign to closed, please?" Mary asked, pointing to the sign hooked on the window.

"I will." Teal'c said and got up to flip the sign.

He returned momentarily and pulled up a chair next to Jonas.

There were a few curious faces gathered outside of the window and Mary grabbed Jack's shoulder.

"Let's get him up to my apartment, away from our audience." She replied, pointing to the window.

O'Neill nodded and took the glass from Jonas, while Mary and Sam helped him to his feet and led him up the stairs by the kitchen and into a roomy apartment.

"The living room's just through here." Mary replied, pointing to an archway that opened into a mid-sized room, with a blue coloured couch that stretched against one wall, and a matching love seat and chair nearby. The television stood next to a window which looked down onto the street.

Jonas was led to the couch and gently lowered to it, where Mary pushed him to lean against the back. Jack handed Jonas back the glass of water, and the young man took it gratefully.

A fine sheen of sweat had crept across Jonas's brow, and his eyes looked as though they were having trouble focusing. He blinked rapidly, and kept his eyes closed in an attempt to shut out the dizziness that was overtaking him.

"Jonas?" Sam asked, laying a hand against his cheek. Even before her hand touched him, she felt the heat radiating from his skin.

"Oh, Jonas." Sam said in concern.

"We should probably take him to a doctor." Mary replied, watching, as Jonas's eyelids grew continuously leaden.

"No, I'll call his doctor. She makes house calls. Can I use your phone, Mary?" Jack asked, his face tight with emotion.

"Go right ahead. Tell her to hurry. Jonas isn't looking good." Mary said as Jonas winced at some unseen pain.

Jack nodded and hurried out to where he'd seen the phone when they'd first come in.

Jonas had finished his water, and Mary took the glass and went to the kitchen to refill it for him.

Sam waited for O'Neill to return, and when he did, she looked to Jonas, first looking around to see if Mary was nearby. She wasn't.

"I have to check something, okay?" Sam asked him quietly.

Jonas nodded. He knew what she was going to check. His removed the heavy shirt he'd thrown on before coming. Sam lifted his T-shirt up, and pulled away the bandages.

When the bandages were pulled away, Sam gasped. The scratches, which had been an angry red previously, had turned to a darker red, nearly purple, mixed with an ugly blue colour that Sam didn't like.

"Jonas." Sam said sympathetically.

"My goodness, what happened to him?" Mary's voice came from behind Sam.

Carter jumped, and her face clouded with alarm. She quickly pulled the shirt back over the wound.

Mary set the water aside and reached past Sam to lift Jonas's shirt again, revealing the ugly marks across his stomach.

"What happened?" She asked, looking to Jonas's anxious face.

"Cat, big cat." Jack injected hurriedly.

"A cat did this? Well, that hardly seems possible."

"It was a big cat." Sam said, playing off of Jack's cover story.

"That could be a sign of cat scratch fever, then." Mary replied, reaching for the water once again. She pushed it into Jonas's trembling hands.

"Fraser's on her way over." Jack told Sam.

Carter breathed a sigh of relief. A sigh that was cut off by Jonas's harsh intake of breath.

"Jonas?" Mary asked.

"This wound appears to be infected as well." Teal'c's voice replied from Jonas's side. He held the other bandage in his hand and the scratch on Jonas's arm appeared hauntingly similar to the wound on his stomach.

Jonas's face had paled again, and he leaned against the back of the couch, closing his eyes for only a moment to shut out the spinning room. That moment happened to be longer than expected.