Author's note: For the Daniel-centric among you, never fear. The next chapter will be from his point of view.

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With so much was expected of the planet targeted for SG1's next off-world mission, it was disappointing that the readings transmitted back by the MALP were quite average, neither alarming or particularly promising. The reconnaissance pictures showed a mildly sloping landscape with bands of trees along small, sluggish streams. Tough, scrubby grass and low bushes filled in the ground between. A few rodent-like animals scurried about, their forays out from under cover never lasting more than seconds. There were no larger animals in sight and the air in the vicinity seemed empty of anything bigger than small insects. In the distance, something was circling, but without a point of reference, they couldn't tell how far away it was and, hence, how large.

Cam leaned over the monitor studying the video and then straightened and said to General Landry. "Given the readings, it's difficult to understand why this planet is so important to Hanna's people."

"Frankly, Colonel, I'm letting you go with your instincts on this one. I'm not at all convinced there's anything to it," Landry said. He swept his hand toward the door and Cam followed him out. "On another topic, how's Surat working out as a team member?" Landry asked.

"Could I please have Carter back? Jackson's not military. Surely there's some way around the regulations."

"Not exactly an answer, Colonel," Landry said. "And no you can't. It's too dangerous for people who are emotionally involved to be in combat situations together." He put a hand on Cam's shoulder and steered him a short distance away from a knot of airmen talking in the corridor. "Speaking of which, you and Dr. Lam aren't sharing off world terrain going forward. I hope you're clear on that. This isn't the place to get into it, but I want you in my office tomorrow at 0900 hours for a little discussion."

Landry walked off, leaving Cam to wonder if this was going to be the classic "what are your intentions with respect to my daughter?" confrontation. It downright spooked him to realize that Landry knew that Cam was seeing his daughter. He'd suspected as much and Daniel had told him he thought Landry knew but Cam had hoped that somehow it wasn't true.

He made time for a quick trip to the infirmary. "Dr. Lam, could I speak with you for a moment?" he asked politely. Was that nurse smirking? Landry had him paranoid. Weeks ago, he had mapped out every likely hidey hole where he could kiss Dr. Lam for a minute or two unobserved. He was obsessed. He had never let a woman get to him like this before. He had a stellar career behind him with an unblemished record and everything to lose by acting like a horny, love-starved teenager. He reasoned that he only sought out the Carolyn fix when his head got so full of her he wasn't focusing where he needed to. That made it all in the line of duty and something he could rationalize.

He pulled her into the little hallway behind the examining room and then into a supply closet. "Your dad knows about us," he said.

It was too dark in the small space to really see her face but he could hear the amusement in her voice. "Sure he does. You're just paranoid."

"He told me that he wants me in his office at 0900 hours tomorrow to discuss it. You're not paranoid if people really are after you."

Her voice didn't sound amused any more. "He has no right to meddle in my personal life."

"Caro, where are we right now? It's not like our relationship has nothing to do with the base." He spread his hand on the small of her back and pulled her closer. He butterflied light kisses around her mouth and then kissed her in earnest, his other hand buried in her hair. When they broke apart, he continued, "I don't think this is as big a secret as you want it to be and all the gossip is probably making it more disruptive than if we were open about having a relationship. We're not assigned to the same team and you're not under my command – or vice versa."

She pushed him away. "No pressure, Cam. I told you that from the beginning."

"Caro, I…"

"We're done in here," she said. She opened the door and left. He stood there for a long while, wishing he could understand what her problem was. There was so much she refused to talk with him about. Her evasiveness was alien to his nature, but then perhaps that was part of the interest. At last he shook himself a little, thinking, "I've reduced myself to standing around in dark supply closets. By myself, even. This is not good."

Later that day on the alien planet which, so far, was just as boring up close and personal as it had been through the MALP, Cam and Daniel slogged off in one direction and Teal'c and Surat in the other. Cam had so arranged it because he wanted another opportunity to pick Daniel's brain. He was operating on the presupposition that if he just prodded at Daniel long enough, the answer always fell out. So far it was working for him.

"What do you think it would be, if the legend is true, that could make someone empathic?" he asked, looking at Daniel expectantly.

"Look, Mitchell, I'm not even sure this is the right planet. And," Daniel held up a hand to forestall Cam, "don't start asking me for percentages of probability again. Sometimes I think you're pretending that you're Kirk and I'm Spock."

"I am not. Dr. Lam would kill me if I was hitting on that many alien babes," Cam said indignantly. He looked speculatively at Daniel. "I do think you should consider the pointed ears, however. Since you shaved off the beard, we look too much alike. I don't want some ET you've pissed off shooting me by accident."

"What's with the 'Dr. Lam' when you're talking to me? I know damn well that the two of you are on first name basis, or maybe not even that. Maybe more like a 'Sweetie Cakes' and 'Honeykins' basis," Daniel said. The boy was definitely not himself, Cam thought. Granted he needed a comeback for the pointed ears but that had been verging on pure O'Neill.

"Is that what you and Sam call each other?" he asked, intrigued by the possible insight into doings at the Carter-Jackson manse.

"Noooo," Daniel said. "Look I'm sorry if I'm hard to live with. I just can't keep doing this. If Sam and I can't go on missions together, I'm going to have to ask for planetside assignments only.

"We were Wham with George Michael. Then we were just George Michael. Now you want to bail?" Daniel simply looked at him. "Okay. Okay. That's a topic for later. For right now, what do you think we should be looking for that could make an empath out of someone?"

"That would be more Dr. Lam's territory or someone else with some physiological or pharmacological training than mine. I thought better of you than that, Mitchell. Jack tended to think if you were a scientist, you knew all science or at least he pretended that was what he thought. You don't have the same need to hide your intelligence."

"Thank you, I think." Cam added to himself, "and we're still more than a little hard to live with." Time to change the subject. "Well, here we are, supposedly on some wide spot in the road held sacred by Hanna's people and I, for one, am feeling a little set up." Cam gestured theatrically. "Could this BE any more boring?"

His com buzzed and he keyed it on. "Mitchell."

"Colonel," Surat came back, urgency in his voice. "Something very big is coming at you in the sky on your 6. It's some sort of huge bird like thing. It started to swoop down on Teal'c and he hit it with his staff weapon."

Within seconds, Surat's warning was superfluous. A huge flying animal darkened the sky. It was more like a pterodactyl than a modern bird with not a feather in sight. It hissed audibly and circled them, its huge, leathery wings flapping powerfully and creating a small breeze. Cam and Daniel both had their weapons drawn, looking for an opportunity. Cam's instincts told him that if they didn't hit it just right, it would just keep coming. Teal'c and Surat had warned it off but he saw a wound of some sort on the right wing, oozing ocher blood. It hissed again. It was very angry and it wasn't going anywhere.

"What do you suggest as a strategy here, Mitchell," Daniel asked, reasonably calm under the circumstances.

Cam thought, "You got to love the man. He's not a soldier but he's made himself into something so close in combat you can't tell the difference." He told Daniel, "No magic here, Daniel. We don't have any cover in sight. Surat and Teal'c are on their way. I suggest we hold out if we can and then if we all fire together, surely we can take it down."

"Okay," Daniel said, still holding together.

Then it all went sour. The thing darted, faster than anyone would have believed possible for something that ungainly. For whatever reason, it had picked Daniel. Cam started firing immediately, but it had Daniel completely covered by its wings. He hit the small head that had arched down and was biting at Daniel and the brain exploded. It collapsed on Daniel twitching. Now the concern was that there was better than three hundred pounds of dead meat on top of a possibly injured man.

"Daniel," he called urgently but there was no answer. The dead animal was impossible to move. He hauled at it in frustration and then the rest of the team arrived and they were able to get it off Daniel. He was still and there was a deep gash on his shoulder and some shallow cuts on his neck. "Thank God it missed the jugular," Cam thought.

"We must get him back to the infirmary as fast as possible," Teal'c said, his distress evidenced by his uncharacteristic stating of the obvious.

"Let's try to stop the bleeding first," Surat said and Cam nodded, trusting the medic training that was part of the new team member's background.

Surat applied a quick field dressing and then Teal'c picked up Daniel and ran, cradling him in his arms. Cam ran point and Surat brought up the rear, all three scanning constantly for more of these flying demons. Cam was sure he had never managed to call up Earth faster on the DHD.

Teal'c never broke stride as he came down the ramp. He kept running, Daniel in his arms, all the way to the infirmary. "What happened?" Carolyn rapped out as they came spilling in the door. "Put him there," she directed before they had time to answer.

"Something birdlike bit him," Cam gasped, not out of breath from running but from barely coping with the emotions assaulting him.

Carolyn took Daniel's vitals and then deftly removed the bandage and cleaned off the wounds. "It's not that bad. In and of itself, it doesn't explain his condition."

"What condition?" It was Sam's frantic voice from behind Cam.

"Cam, please take her out here. I need to be able to focus."

Cam looked at Teal'c who nodded and steered Sam out of the infirmary. He heard Teal'c murmuring softly to Sam who was desperately pleading to go back to Daniel. "There must have been venom involved," Carolyn said and signaled the nurse to start drawing blood.

Daniel started abruptly and opened his eyes. They were wild and unfocused. He got a vise-like grip on Cam's arm, amazing for someone who was shaking and burning up. Cam could feel the warmth through his sleeve. "Sam, Sam," he demanded urgently. "Get Sam. Fast."

Sam heard him - he was shouting - and broke free of Teal'c. She pushed past Cam and he didn't stop her. "I'm here," she said, looking as frightened as Cam felt. They wanted Daniel to regain consciousness but this was manic.

"Kiss me. Kiss me," he said insistently.

She leaned forward and tried to give him a gentle kiss. It was as if he summoned every ounce of strength in his trembling body. He clamped on to the back of her head and forced her into a different type of kiss altogether. Cam found himself feeling a little embarrassed to be watching. He met Carolyn's eyes and saw that she was feeling it as well. It was a primal sort of claiming. Sam started in surprise but she didn't fight it. It went on for so long that he began to wonder how they were getting enough oxygen. When it ended, Daniel looked at her for the briefest of moments and then went limp.

Carolyn immediately stepped forward and firmly moved Sam aside. She clearly expected to find a patient in distress, but after a moment, she stepped back and said, "He'll be okay. He's just asleep."

"I want to stay here. Please don't make me go," Sam said piteously. She was clutching Daniel's hand.

"No, of course not," Carolyn said, gently. Cam pulled a chair over to the side of the bed and got Sam to sit in it although she never relinquished her hold on her husband.

"I'd like to stay too, if that would be all right with you," Cam requested softly.

She nodded but he wasn't even sure she understood what he was asking. He and Teal'c talked and agreed that Cam would stay until dawn and then Teal'c would relieve him.

Cam watched for hours and Daniel slept on. It wasn't peaceful sleep. He could see his teammate's eyeballs jerking under his eyelids. It would seem he was dreaming powerful dreams and he moaned and protested and cried out repeatedly. After only a few minutes, Sam fell deeply asleep. Her sleep was also troubled. Cam loosened her hand from Daniel's, picked her up, and laid her on the neighboring bed, fortuitously empty.

Nurses came in and out, but Cam became convinced there was something very big happening that was being missed by the medical personnel. At first he thought he was imagining it, but close attention convinced him he wasn't. Carolyn came in and walked up behind him and caused him to literally jump a foot out of his chair. "Caro," he said, too spooked to be careful with her name, "it's like they're connected. He moans and she moans. She mutters and he mutters."

"You're just tired, love," Carolyn said, making no effort to be discrete herself. It was the middle of the night and they were alone.

"Check it for yourself," he said. He stood behind her, his arms around her waist, and his cheek against her hair, while she watched. At first she was relaxed against him, just humoring her tired, stressed out boyfriend. Then he could feel when she started to believe because she tensed in his arms.

"If I'm really seeing what I think I'm seeing, wow, it'd be unprecedented," she said. "She needs to be hooked up to a monitor too so we can see confirm that they are really tracking each other and on what level."

She started to move but Cam didn't release her immediately. He turned her to look at him. "I'm glad Jackson's got someone like you seeing to him. I'm in awe of what you can do and how you do it." He kissed her and it was a beautiful kiss. Cam felt transported to somewhere else that was all his Caro. When it was over, her eyes fluttered open and she looked at him with an uncomplicated love shining out of her brown eyes for just a moment before he saw the old hurts and confusions come back to trouble her.

Daniel's voice startled them. "Sam and I need to go home."

Cam looked to see Daniel, sitting up now in the other bed, disconnected from all monitors, the drip pulled out. "He's right. We're both fine. It would be really good for us to go home." Sam was sitting up in her own bed.

"I don't think so," Carolyn said.

"Examine me," Daniel requested softly. "If you don't find anything, can you really keep us here?"

Carolyn did an efficient quick exam and frowned. "Everything's normal. It's like nothing happened to you." She checked him over again, even more meticulously and thoroughly. She walked over to Sam's bed and examined her.

"That's curious," Cam thought. "Neither of them seem to find that strange. Sam isn't a patient here and yet Carolyn's examining her. It's as if they know something is off."

"Sam, you're fine," Carolyn announced. Cam was sure she was delighted her patients were well, but would almost have welcomed some indication that she and Cam had not been hallucinating.

Daniel swung his legs around and got up, a little unsteady for a moment, but after a couple of steps, he was walking normally. Sam got up as well and went to put her arm around him. "How about if Daniel could borrow some scrubs," she suggested. I don't really want any late night personnel to be getting in on my personal viewing rights to his backside."

Daniel reached around rather futilely to the back of his hospital gown. "You do have a point, Sam."

"I don't agree with this," Carolyn protested. "You need to stay here under observation."

Sam left Daniel and came close to her. She laid a hand on Carolyn's arm and said, very softly. "Forget the past. If you've lost patients, this isn't like what happened before."

Cam spent a lot of time in the infirmary and he knew where the scrubs were. He left Carolyn wordlessly staring at Sam, quickly located a pair, and tossed them to Daniel. Daniel pulled the bottoms on under the gown and went to work on putting on the top. Carolyn finally came to life. "I guess I can't keep you here," she said reluctantly.

Daniel came forward and put an arm around her and gave her a little hug. "Sam and I just need to be alone together and deal with this. We'll be fine."

Sam and Daniel left hand in hand. Carolyn turned to Cam. "Deal with what? What made me go along with that? What just happened here?"