Chapter 4

Janet sat back at her station, unless she found a way to stop this thing fast the two people she cared about the most were going to die. She could feel the tears building in her eyes again and she knew she couldn't hold them back this time, she got up and left the tent and walked around the back. She looked around her making sure no one could see her before leaning her back against a nearby tree and finally allowing herself to cry. It was at this moment that one of the doctors who had followed her out of the tent came around the corner.

"You should take a break; you haven't stopped since we got here"

"No, I don't have time, I have work to do" she replied, she made a move to go back into the tent but as she walked past him he grabbed her arm.

"You're no use to anyone like this, take an hour, get cleaned up an rest, the tests are running, we can hold down the fort until you get back and we need you we'll come and get you, besides isn't Dr Jackson due to wake up soon"

Janet nodded her head and went into the decontamination tent so she could remove her helmet and clean herself up. She then headed to Daniels tent. When she entered she saw Daniel laid in his bed looking as pale as Sam, she walked up to the bed and Teal'c looked at her, he was still in the biohazard suit she was making him wear. Both his and Jacks tests had come back clean but she couldn't guarantee that Teal'cs symbiote would protect him so she decided to make him continue wearing the suit, he looked uncomfortable and Janet knew he had been sitting in that chair for hours.

"Teal'c if you want to take a walk and maybe go and see Sam then I'll sit with Daniel for a while" Teal'c nodded his head in gratitude and got up and left. She took his seat next to Daniels bed and just watched him lay there. It was about 40 minutes later that she heard Daniels voice

"Hey" it was strained, as Sams had been.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Headache, sick, I have it don't I?"

Janet could barely hold back tears, she knew she had to she couldn't cry in her biohazard suit again "Yeah, you do" Daniel had obviously sensed she was upset, he turned his hand over on the bed and opened his palm and she took his hand and held it tightly.

"It'll be okay" Janet heard him say the word but knew he didn't believe them either, she smiled at him and gripped his hand tighter.

"I'm going to get Jack and Teal'c they wanted to know when you woke up, and so you know, Teal'c has barely left your side for 4 hours" she hesitated for a moment before finally letting go of his hand and heading for Sams tent. Jack was still sitting right where she had left him in the chair next to Sams bed and Teal'c was standing at the opposite side.

"Daniels awake"

Teal'c nodded his head to Sam and turned and left, Jack looked at Sam clearly torn between staying with her and checking on Daniel.

"I'll sit with her until you get back"

Jack took a deep breath and left the tent, Janet sat next to Sam "How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay, what about you" Janet was surprised at the question but she knew she shouldn't have been, Sam knew her well enough to know this was really getting to her.

"I'm tired we're not making much progress with this" there was no point in lying Sam would just coax the truth out of her eventually, she might as well save them both some time and energy and tell her the truth from the start.

"How's Daniel? I know it must be really hard for you to watch us both go through this"

"It is but I'm a doctor I can handle it"

"It's different when it people you love" Janet's head shot up at this, she used that word on purpose, Sam had clearly noticed her reaction because she was suppressing a giggle, which was causing her to wince in pain "Come on Janet under these circumstances you can admit the truth to me" Janet was about to protest but Sam just stared at her and she gave up.

"Okay. I like him alright"

"Oh please, you way more than like him, you've been in love with him for ages" Janet looked like she was about to protest again so Sam carried on "Whenever he walks into a room your breath catches, your face lights up when you hear his voice, when you're in the same room you stand right next to him and your face is going red now, so don't tell me you're not in love with him. Janet knew she was right, it was just so weird to hear someone say it out loud and as always happened in these conversations she turned it around on Sam.

"Well, what about you? All the things you just described to me you do with Jack, so I guess we're both in love" oh wow it felt even weirder when she said it. Sams eyes went wide and Janet almost laugh, it was now she noticed how clammy her skin had become, how could she not have noticed that before? She stood up and took her temperature, 104° that's not good her fever was really bad now.

"I have to get back to work, I'll go and get Jack to come and sit with you, okay?" Sam nodded and Janet left.

Daniel was looking as bad as Sam; Jack hated seeing his friends this way, if there were two people on his team who didn't deserve this it was Daniel and Sam. They had just finished giving him a full account of everything that had happened in the last 4 hours when Janet walked into the tent "I have to get back to work, someone should go and sit with Sam" she looked at him as she said this as if expecting him to volunteer, she was wrong.

"I'll go" he looked at Daniel and smiled before turning and leaving. The first thing he noticed when he entered was how clammy she was, her fever must have shot up. He sat back and handed her the glass of water that was at the side of her bed.

Daniel looked at Teal'c sitting in the chair next to him, he wasn't really saying anything but Daniel was glad he was there anyway; it wasn't really an awkward silence so Daniel felt no need to break it. Janet had looked really tired, she's probably working almost non stop since she got here. She had looked really upset too, this whole thing was probably hurting her a lot more than she let on, the thought pained him a lot more than he had expected it to. He had become really close to Janet and he cared about her a lot, Jack had been his annoying self on the subject constantly pointing out his growing feelings for her. He took a deep breath; this mission was not going well.

Janet sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes, it had been 8 hours since she had discovered the virus floating around in Sam's blood sample, with the amount of personnel working on this both here and at the SGC they had been able to progress quickly with the tests. They had already run them once and come up with nothing and were now in the process of running them again. Dr Coleman walked up behind her and she turned to face him, the expression on his face telling her he was not the bearer of good news.

"Dr Frazier we've completed all the tests, nothing has worked" Janet felt her heart sink and the look of sympathy on his face only made her feel worse.

"Okay call the SGC give them an update and see if they've made any progress on their end" Dr Cole man nodded and left, she then turned to one of the nurses "send Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c to the decontamination tent tell them I'll meet them there"

Jack looked up at Sam as she started shaking "Carter?"

"I'm cold" Jack got up from and took another blanket from the pile they had been brought when Sam had begun experiencing sudden changes in temperature. He covered her with it and the shaking began to slow a little.

"Thanks" her voice had been getting weaker and weaker over the last couple of hours and he could tell that it hurt her to talk so he had decided to keep conversation to a minimal and pretty much one sided.

"Excuse me, Colonel O'Neill" Jack turned his head to see a pretty red headed nurse standing at the entrance "Dr Frazier wants to see you in the decontamination tent" the nurse turned and left and Jack turned back to Sam.

"Go, I'll be fine"

"I'll be right back"

He entered the decontamination tent and saw Janet and Teal'c standing with their helmets off. He went through the decontamination area and then removed his helmet.

"What's going on?" he asked and Janet looked at him

"We've run all the tests and nothing we've tried has worked"

"Run them again" his reply was blunt and he could feel all the emotions he had been suppressing coming to the surface.

"We are but we've already run them twice, we've thrown everything we've got at it, nothing will kill it, it keeps adapting"

"So what, we just give up?" he was shouting now he knew he shouldn't be this wasn't Janet's fault and she was just as upset as he was but he couldn't help it.

"I do not think that is what Dr Frazier meant" came Teal'cs voice, showing a hint of sorrow.

"This isn't right" he yelled as he kicked over a stack of metal cases, Janet walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders, any other doctor would have been afraid to come anywhere near him after an out burst like that.

"We're not going to give up, we're gonna keep trying"

"I'm sorry" he said suddenly feeling ashamed of losing control like that especially on a mission.

"Don't apologise, I feel like yelling and kicking stuff over too" she smiled and Jack couldn't help but smile back.

"Thanks" he put his helmet back on and headed back to Sam's tent.

"What did Janet want?"

"Nothing, just to see how we were doing"

"Colonel, tell me what she said, if she was just checking on us she would have come here"

"Nothing they've tried has worked; it keeps adapting to whatever they do" He watched as she took a deep breath and composed herself, keeping up the brave front she had had since this had started. He noticed her skin was clammy again,

"Are you getting hot again?"

"Yeah" she said, he got her another glass of water and removed the extra blanket he had placed on her earlier. He sat back down in the chair next to her bed, 14 hours in, in another 40 hours he might lose her.