The vision ended and they both became aware of their surroundings in the infirmary, Jack becoming aware of the needle jabbing into his shoulder. "Oww damnit!"
"Sorry Colonel, but you did tell me to really jab in the last time." Janet Fraiser shared a smile with me as she swabbed the blood from his arm. Jack just gave her a frustrated look, and grumbled something about nurse Ratchett.
"Please send this to the lab and ask them to put a rush on it." Janet instructed the nurse and turned her attention back to Jack and I. "So anything knew to report?" she asked.
"Earlier this morning when our temples touched, I started seeing what Jack was thinking. And he showed me a memory, it was like a movie shared between our minds." I told her.
I watched Janet scribble down notes on her pad, "What were you thinking about Colonel O'Neill when you two shared this vision?" she questioned.
Jack swallowed rather tensely, "Um...I was thinking about having a shower." his answer seemed to whoosh out of his mouth once he had thought of an excuse.
Janet's eye brow raised in suspicion, "Just a shower? You weren't by chance thinking about you and Major Carter having se--"
"Janet!" I broke in a little embarrassed. Her eyes seemed to be overflowing with laughter. I silently vowed revenge for that little indiscretion.
Suddenly the overhead speaker blared to life, "Colonel O'Neill to the gateroom, Colonel O'Neill to the gateroom please."
"Thank god..." Jack mumbled as he jumped off the bed and started walking a little too briskly to the door.
I called silently to his mind with my own, and was relieved to see him turn to look at me. "I'll meet you in my lab when you're finished." I told him.
"Yep." he said a little too quickly as he darted out the door.
Janet turned to look at me, "Was it something I said?" Neither one of us could contain our laughter. I cared for Jack deeply, but sometimes I just couldn't help but laugh at his antics.
"Jack! I have to talk with you." Daniel caught up to me on my way to the gate room.
"It'll have to wait Danny boy, I just got called to the gate room." I told him trying to hasten my journey, whenever Daniel needed to talk, it was never a good thing. Either a lecture or...a lecture about mythology or something equally as boring.
"Actually I had you paged, come on we can talk in my lab." He said beginning to move in the opposite direction.
Unconsciously I turned toward the infirmary, hoping for a rescue from my beautiful Major but for all intensive purposes it looked like escape was futile. "Yeah I'm coming." I told him, plodding along behind him. Silently my mind called to Carter, save me from boredom please...
We arrived at Daniel's lab and he immediately started riffling through a pile of books and journals. I sighed as I sat down on a stool. "What's this about Daniel?" I asked, hoping it was something quick and painless, with no real effort required.
"Doctor Fraiser ah..." he paused, seeming to have found the text he was looking for, "...told me about your condition...uh connection with Sam." He corrected himself, sitting down at his desk.
"So...?" I drew out the word to show my impatience, although I doubted Daniel would pick up on it.
"Well I think I know what's happening to the two of you." He pushed his glasses up towards the bridge of his nose and turned to regard me, "General Hammond asked me to research your condition and contact the Asgard and Tokra to see if they had any insights."
"And?" I asked, wishing Daniel would just get on with it already.
He picked up a second book, this one looked to be more of a journal, "Anise had some interesting things to tell me. She thinks that both your bodies have been invaded by a symbiote."
I just stared at him for a minute, before I reacted, "WHAT!" I nearly screamed at him. "Carter and I have snakes in our heads!"
"Calm down Jack, you don't have Gou'ald symbiotes in your head, these creatures are completely different and they are actually curled up next to your heart." Daniel tried to explain to me.
I continued to stare at him, repeating the mantra in my head, "Carter! Help me damnit! Carter!"
Suddenly I felt a familiar hand on my shoulder; I turned to see Sam and gave her a relieved smile. She gave me a poignant look, whispering in my ear, "Enough already, I don't need another headache." before she pulled up a chair and sat next me.
"So," she addressed Daniel, "what have you come up with?"
Daniel had a relieved smile of his own, although for a different reason I'm sure. I was just happy to have Sam with me again, and to be honest with myself, I needed her calming presence now more than ever. Daniel probably saw Carter as someone to appreciate his ramblings.
"As I was trying to explain to Jack," Daniel gave me an irritated look, "I think I know what's happened to the two of you. Our old friend Anise actually came in pretty helpful. She's been working on cataloguing a number of different species, who like the Tokra need to take a host at some point in their lifetime."
I watched Carter nod in acknowledgement, although I felt a wave of irritation and what I thought was jealousy, flow through our bond. Apparently Doctor Fraiser wasn't the only one who had mixed feelings about Anise. Truth be told, that snake gave me the creeps.
"The creatures who have taken the two of you as hosts are called Fraggles. They live on many different planets, including P3X-291. I think what happened is that you two ingested these creatures' eggs or even breathed them in like spores while we were on that planet a few weeks ago. The eggs must have hatched and the creatures were born inside your body." Daniel explained to us, flipping through the pages of what I guessed was Anise's journal.
Sam was being very quiet, focusing on exactly what Daniel was saying; even so I could feel a shudder creeping its way up her spine. I let my hand slip underneath the T-shirt she was wearing and gently caress her lower back. It didn't startle her like I feared it would, instead she turned to look at me an appreciative look in her eyes, the smile gone from her face.
"Here's what they look like..." Daniel passed the book to us, it had a drawing of a small furry looking creature, with large eyes and a long tail. "Fraggles are actually pretty interesting little guys, when you think about it. These creatures mate for life and they choose their hosts based on compatibility."
Sam looked up from the drawing, "So Daniel, how exactly can they choose hosts if they enter a host body while still in eggs or embryo form?" I sighed and ran my hand through my hair; the decision was made, I'd wait for Carter to explain it to me later. Later tonight, when it was just Carter and I...It's about damn time too.
"Actually that's what makes your situation so unique, these creatures only take hosts after they have matured for a few years. Anise isn't even sure how they were able to survive in your bodies at all, to her knowledge they have never taken humans as hosts before." Daniel answered.
"Did Anise happen to tell you how to get them out of us?" Sam asked, I could feel her becoming more and more irritated as each moment passed. I took her hand from its tense position on her knee and brought it to my lips. Kissing her knuckles before interlacing our fingers and putting my head down on the table.
Sam squeezed my hand and kissed my forehead before she returned her attention to Daniel. For his part, Daniel looked a little uncomfortable with the whole situation. I guess he wasn't used to us being affectionate with each other. Although how could we not, being told there were alien creatures living inside our bodies.
"Uh...no. But she's working hard on the problem." Daniel responded. Sam snorted, in my mind I heard her voice say, "I'm sure." in a very disbelieving tone.
Daniel came around the end of the table and patted Sam and I on the shoulder, "Look on the bright side guys. At least they're not hurting you." he gave us a small smile.
"Yeah." It was the first time I had spoken since Sam entered the room; both of them turned to look at me, before Sam addressed Daniel.
"Is there anything else you can tell us about these creatures, Daniel? I can already feel Jack's emotions and we can share thoughts. What else should we expect? Is there a chance we could become telepathically linked? Will the physical connection deteriorate after time or will it intensify?" As usual Sam's questions were way over my head, literally and figuratively. I sighed it was going to be a long day...
Daniel shook his head, "Well...
Unbenoticed to me, Jack had left his chair and was now hovering over me. I looked towards him and watched as he bent down, gently kissing my forehead and nuzzling his nose into my hair. He took the opportunity to breathe me in again, before walking out of the room. I blushed and looked up at Daniel with a small smile on my face, "Continue..."
"As I was saying...I really don't know, Sam. Anise has only done preliminary research on these creatures and neither of us have any idea how differently they may react in your systems. We'll keep working on it though, I promise you. The Asgard haven't gotten back to us yet, maybe they'll have something useful to contribute." He gave me a sad smile, most likely trying to comfort me.
Jack was frustrated, I could feel it radiating off of him in waves. He wanted to be home, enjoying some extra-curricular activities with yours truly. But really, who could blame him. It was getting close to lunch time and since I wasn't able to fully enjoy my breakfast, I was getting hungry again.
I envisioned a picnic on the surface, sunlight, fresh air and cuddling up with Jack once we were finished. But unfortunately I knew we were likely to have lunch in the Commiseriary, which was only a few steps above MRE's, but just barely.
"So do you want to work on those artefacts from SG-10? They're set up in your lab." Daniel asked regaining my attention.
"Sure." I answered.
"Okay, I'm just going to grab a cup of coffee and I'll meet you there." He told me before heading off in the direction of the commissary.
Great I thought, just enough time for me to hunt down Jack. I had a feeling the pain in my mind was connected to him some how. I walked through the corridors, feeling his presence through the bond helped me find him near the infirmary.
"Hey Carter." I smiled as she walked down the hall way towards me, "Done already?" She stopped directly in front of me, eyes narrowing. "What?" I asked.
She touched her finger tips to my temple and an image filled my mind, fingernails, idly clicking against a black surface...suddenly the hands moved into a flurry of motion, scratching up and down on what I now realized was a black board.
"Owww, Oh for crying out loud, stop it already!"
I watched the smirk on her face slowly fade, "Whatever you were doing or thinking after you left Daniel and I..." she explained.
"Okay, no thinking, I got it." I held up my hands in defense. "You know what I'd really like right about now--" She stopped me with a hand over my mouth and a shake of her head.
I took her hand in mine and gave her a hurt look, "What I was going to say was, I'd really like a nap."
She tugged me down the hallway, "I think I can arrange that, actually. You can sleep in my lab while Daniel and I examine those artefacts. What do you say?" She gave me that winning smile and I couldn't resist.
"Lead the way, Major." I replied grinning as we made our way to her lab.
"Hi Jack, I thought you left." Daniel looked up from an artefact as we entered the room.
"I'm not actually here, Daniel. I'm a figment of your imagination." I told him as I stretched out on the cot in the corner of Sam's lab.
Daniel turned his attention to Carter, "Just between you and me, since Jack isn't here...He's a real pain in the ass."
Carter chuckled, "Sometimes he can be yes." She agreed.
He shook his head silently, returning his focus back to whatever piece of ancient technology he was holding, muttering, "Always...not some times, always..."
Sam walked over and knelt beside the cot, I was hoping she would kiss me goodnight, tuck me in...something, but instead she leaned over and whispered in my ear, "We need to be touching to sleep remember? So come on, I've got a nice hard bench with your name on it." She winked at me as I stood up.
I eyed the bench, it wasn't long enough to stretch out, but...I grinned. I motioned for Carter to sit down first, which she did, on the edge of the bench. I sat down beside her, took a deep breath and curled up on the bench with my head in her lap.
I thought for sure she'd deck me, but instead her hand drifted down to stroke me and run her fingers through my hair. I settled in for a peaceful afternoon, even if it wasn't exactly how I wanted to spend it, it was good enough.