A few of you had interesting ideas, but I guess you'll have to wait and see where I'm going with this. Thank you once again! I was completely blown away by all of the reviews :-D
"Mens Mentis"
-Chapter 2-
Daniel had been released from the infirmary, although he'd been awfully quiet, which didn't go unnoticed by Janet. She'd been reluctant to release him from her care, but there hadn't been anything physically wrong with him.
Janet walked out of her office. She wasn't surprised to find Jack still stationed in the chair next to Sam's bed. The Colonel was fast asleep, his head lolled at an awkward angle. He'd definitely regret that when he woke up.
She was surprised, though, to find Daniel back in the Infirmary. He was sprawled across the bed next to Sam. The only thing missing from the all-too-familiar scene was Teal'c.
Sam was still asleep, and Janet was beginning to get worried. Sam should have woken by now. Something was definitely different about her condition compared to Daniel's. But, as many times as she ran tests, Janet still couldn't find anything wrong with her. Except for the obvious, that she wasn't awake.
Suddenly, Daniel started tossing in his sleep, mumbling inaudible words. As quickly as it had started, his body froze again, before he jumped awake, sitting up bolt right on the bed.
"Daniel?" Janet asked, her tone full of concern. She took a few steps closer to him. His eyes darted to the petite doctor. "Are you ok?"
Jack was instantly awake at the sound of voices. He groaned and brought a hand to his neck.
"I'm fine," Daniel reassured her. "Just a dream."
"What's going on?" Jack asked, rubbing his stiff neck.
"Nothing, I just had a dream, that's all."
Janet didn't completely believe him, something seemed wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"Honestly, Janet, I'm fine." Daniel insisted.
Dr. Fraiser raised her arms in defense. "I didn't say anything." She walked over to Sam's bed to continue with what her original plan had been: check on Sam.
"She's still not awake."
'No, really?' Janet thought in exasperation, but she kept her mouth firmly shut, and looked helplessly at Jack.
Daniel suddenly snorted, and they both turned to look at him. "Uh, sorry."
"I don't know what to do, Colonel." Janet looked to Jack. "To be honest, she should've woken up by now." They all looked at Sam.
"I'm going to talk to Hammond about sending another team back to the planet, see if we can find something there." Jack said sullenly.
"If I can take another look at that lab, I might be able to find something that could shed some light on what is going on." Daniel added.
"And how to reverse this." Jack gestured emphatically towards Sam with his hands.
"I'm pretty sure it had something to do with that device. I feel responsible for what happened, I shouldn't have touched it."
"Don't fret Daniel; I know how you are with your rocks."
"Thanks Jack." Daniel replied sarcastically.
"I have brought nourishment." Teal'c's deep voice interrupted them. They all turned to find Teal'c laden with a tray full of a wide variety of jello flavours. Teal'c always seemed to be the one taking care of the team in such situations. Even if it was jello that they ate.
Jack looked at one of the bowls of blue jello, and frowned.
Daniel, hearing Jack's thoughts of despair of Sam and her love for blue jello, frowned himself. It surprised him a little. He'd always known that the two cared deeply for each other; deeper than they were allowed. But, hearing Jack's thoughts, Daniel realized that it went much deeper than he originally thought, and he felt deeply saddened for his friends.
Although, he still wasn't sure if he was still a little loopy from being knocked out, or was he really hearing everyone's thoughts. He wasn't exactly ready to share this with everyone. Another session with Dr. Mackenzie was not something he particularly wanted.
Teal'c placed the tray of jello down on a table next to the bed. "O'Neill, do you require some jello?"
"No thanks, Teal'c." Jack shook his head.
"Starving will not help Major Carter." Teal'c reasoned.
Jack looked to Sam, and back to Teal'c before grunting and taking a bowl of red jello.
"Well, I'm going to go talk to General Hammond about going back to P5X-420." Daniel knew that Jack wouldn't be leaving Sam's side anytime soon.
Daniel grabbed a cup of jello on his way out of the Infirmary. He was very shocked when a certain Jaffa's voice echoed in his head.
'Good, Daniel Jackson has left the yellow coloured gelatin for myself.'
Daniel turned to find Teal'c digging greedily into a cup of yellow jello. A slightly amused grin spread across the archaeologist's face before he left the room.
Hammond had granted Daniel's request to return to the planet. The only condition was that he send another SG team through first, just to make sure that it hadn't been hostiles that had taken Sam and Daniel down.
Hammond was pretty sure that Colonel O'Neill wouldn't be returning with Dr. Jackson through the 'gate. So he'd round up Dr. Lee's science team to accompany Jackson. Hopefully Teal'c would volunteer to watch over them.
Sighing as he picked up the phone, General Hammond began to call Dr. Fraiser to check up on Major Carter's status. He had no doubt that she would pull through, otherwise SG-1 wouldn't rest until they found a way to help her.
Especially Jack O'Neill, who seemed to be inseparable from Major Carter's side. Well, more so than usual. Hammond suspected that it had something to do with the super soldier incident on the Alpha site just a few weeks ago. When the base had come under attack by Anubis' Kull warriors, Sam had been chased by one through the forest with severe injuries.
Then there was the recent incident on the Prometheus where they had gone without contact for two days, and Carter had suffered from a concussion.
It seemed that Colonel O'Neill was very protective of her recently.
Thinking twice, Hammond replaced the phone on its cradle. He was going to ask Fraiser to send the Colonel to his office, but he now realized that getting Jack out of the Infirmary wasn't going to be very likely.
George stood from his comfy desk chair, and headed out of his office. He would visit Doctor Fraiser and see Major Carter himself, and have a talk with O'Neill while he was there.
Jack was, once again, alone with Sam in the Infirmary. Teal'c had gone to Kel-no-reem. He said that although he didn't need to do it anymore, because of the lack of his symbiote, it still helped him to remain calm. 'When was Teal'c not calm?' Jack had thought.
He looked down at his 2IC, and sighed. It had been over 24 hours now, and she still wasn't awake.
Jack looked around the silent room, checking once again if he was alone. Satisfied with his results, he leaned forward in his seat, and grasped Sam's hand in his own. Her hand was very warm, and he frowned. He let go, and placed his hand on her forehead. His frown deepened when he felt how hot her skin was.
"Fraiser!" He called out. She came running out of her office, her brows creased with concern.
"What is it?" She was by Sam's bedside in an instant.
"She's hot… I mean her temperature. She's burning up."
Janet quickly read Sam's temperature with a thermometer. Jack looked at her questioningly. "105."
"Crap!" Jack mumbled under his breath.
Janet called for a nurse to help her as she attempted to bring down Sam's dangerously high temperature. Jack found himself being helplessly pushed out of the way.
"What's going on, Colonel?" Jack spun around to find himself face to face with General Hammond.
"Carter's running a high fever."
Hammond looked over Jack's shoulder just as Janet approached them. "Doctor?"
"She'll be ok, as long as we can keep her temperature down. A fever means that her body is fighting some sort of virus. I'm going to run some more tests; I didn't spot any sort of virus before."
"Thank you, Doctor." Janet nodded, and returned to Sam. "Colonel," Hammond continued. "Can I speak with you for a minute?" Hammond led Jack away from the nurses.
"Dr. Jackson approached me with a request to return to P5X-420."
"Yes, Sir, I was going to talk to you about that."
"I know, and I granted his request. I'm sending SG-2 through to make sure it's safe. Now, I know you would like to remain here by Major Carter's side, and because you're not much one for the science, so I'm sending Dr. Jackson with a science team."
Jack was slightly surprised. "Thank you, Sir." He did want to do whatever he could to help, but like Hammond said, he would just get in the way with this one. The answer required science, not force, and Jack was helpless but to take a back seat and watch.
"I've tried contacting the Tok'ra." Continued Hammond, "We've heard nothing so far."
"I don't think we will after that episode a few weeks ago. Jack scowled. After the attack on the Alpha site, the Tok'ra had withdrawn from their alliance. "What about Thor?"
"We've tried the Asgard too, but still nothing. I think we're alone on this one." Hammond sighed. "Well, let me know if you need anything, Son."
"That I will, Sir." Jack smiled, and Hammond was relieved to see the Colonel smile. "But, I really appreciate it." Jack spoke sincerely.
The General nodded, and Jack turned back to sit by Sam's side again. A monitor was now hooked up to her, to keep a check on her vitals, and to alert them to any sudden changes.
He reclaimed his seat, and studied her peaceful face. "Come on Carter," He whispered.
Daniel looked at his surroundings. The place was unfamiliar to him. A creek laid several metres before his feet, and trees covered the embankments on either side. There were no sounds but the rustle of the wind in the trees, and the occasional call of a bird.
A sudden 'plunk' in the water, drew his attention to his right. Small pebbles were being thrown into the water by a lone figure sitting on a fallen log.
Her face was covered by the shadows, but Daniel knew instantly who the woman was. "Sam?" He took a step closer to her as she turned to look at him.
"Daniel?"
"Yeah." He frowned. Was he dreaming? He looked around in confusion. "Ah… where are we?"
"This is the creek by my house where I grew up. I used to come here when I wanted to be alone, or think." While she spoke, she stared out over the surface of the water. When she finished, she turned to look at him once more.
"Why are you here? You're not supposed to be here."
Daniel's eyes shot open as her words echoed through his mind. He sat up in bed, and looked around his dark quarters. 'What was that about?'
A/N: Just to let you all know, I'll probably only have one chapter a week. There's this horribly inconveniant thing called school which I must attend. But I'll type up chapters whenever I can! Thanks once again.