The Fire Still Burns – Part 12
"You are shitting me! No way!"
"Yes, way."
Jack stared at the doctor, his grin growing ever wider. "You sounded just like your daughter then, Doc."
"Did not." Folding her arms across her chest, Janet scowled back at him.
"You so did."
"Pot kettle." She stopped and scowled even harder, clearly exasperated. "You're just as bad as Cassie, sir."
"Pot kettle." He couldn't hold his laughter in any more as he repeated her words back at her. "Pot kettle. Where does Cassie come up with them? You're killing me here, Doc." To prove his point, he echoed the position of Janet's arms with his own, clutching at his chest. "Oh – that hurts." But he kept on laughing – he couldn't help it – it was just so damned funny. Not just Janet, but the whole thing. Totally hilarious.
"Sir – come on, sir, you have to calm down." Janet's voice had lost its joking tone and was completely sober and serious.
And he knew why. The answer was already making itself known with a nasty jolt that ran through his chest, taking his breath away.
It was several minutes before Jack was calmly settled with more of the soothing drugs he was becoming far too used to coursing through his system. The warm haze made him want to drift off, to float out with the tide.
His eyes were already closing when the realization hit that he hadn't finished his conversation with the doc. He wrenched them open again to find her creeping quietly away.
"You're shitting me."
Her sigh would have been audible in the farthest corners of the infirmary it was so loud. And heartfelt. She turned back.
"You have to rest, Colonel. Let the medication work. Relax."
"Oh, come on – you can't expect to tell me something like that and then just walk off." He gave her a calculating look, seeing the hint of disappointment in her expression. "This must be killing you. Admit it." He pushed himself to give another smug grin, fighting down the lethargy dragging at him.
The grin faded a little when Janet tossed her head in the air, spun on her heels and stalked toward the exit. But it returned with a vengeance when she turned, her right forefinger and thumb extended at right-angles across her forehead in a very insubordinate sign for 'loser' then scurried out the door.
His shout of 'Major Fraiser. Consider yourself on report!' left him breathless, but it was so worth it to catch the glimpse of mortification on the Doc's face as she ran away.
After the door closed behind the doctor, he gestured that he was okay to the duty nurse as he laughed himself into happy exhaustion. Then he had nothing better to do than give in to the pull of the drugs. There would be plenty more opportunities for teasing the diminutive medico and watching her squirm. He was so going to enjoy every moment – milk it for all it was worth. Revenge was sweet.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
"Would you give me your opinion on something?"
Daniel nodded, putting down his book and giving all his attention to Jack. "Sure, what is it?"
"See here." Jack folded the pages of the magazine he had been reading back and turned it to face him. "Which do you think would be better – something like this or one that's more straightforward?"
Seeing nothing on the page in front of him but a photo of a tall glass filled with cherries and umbrellas precariously balanced on what appeared to be a naked woman's breast, Daniel swallowed and looked a little closer. Nothing else leaped out at him. There was a glass and a breast. He swallowed again as he eyed the golden tanned skin with the small beads of moisture rolling down…
"Daniel. Hello! Can I get an answer here?"
"Ah –" He felt a sense of loss as the magazine was abruptly pulled away. "She's fine."
"She? What the hell are you talking about – she? Since when do you call a drink she?"
"Drink? What drink?"
Jack held the magazine up again, pointing. "It's an article about cocktails. Now, if you'd get your mind out of the gutter for just a minute, I want to know which you think would be better – a cocktail like this or something straightforward like scotch on the rocks. These are more fun, but a lot of them have far too much sugar and you can't be too careful at my age."
As one part of his mind was wondering why sugar was an issue to a man who seemed to consume his own body weight in fat at every meal and yet not put on an ounce, the rest of Daniel's brain was attempting to make what Jack was saying into something more logical. It wouldn't work. No matter how much he tried, nothing about the conversation made sense.
"Jack." He paused and began again, speaking very precisely. "Jack. To quote your own words – just what the hell are you talking about?"
He could tell his friend was smirking, despite his rather transparent attempt to hide it. Whatever was going on, Jack was enjoying himself – that much was clear.
"Oh, I thought you knew," Jack answered, his voice oozing nonchalance. "They've found something that kills the snake bug."
Determined not to buy into Jack's little game, Daniel just smiled benignly, while thinking about very painful ways he could hurt the smug bastard sitting up in the bed. When the silence had stretched far longer than Daniel had expected, Jack finally broke. With an icy glare that would have frozen a flame solid, the other man continued.
"Well, if you're not interested…" He unfolded the magazine and turned to another page. "I've got research to do."
"Okay." Daniel lifted his book from his lap, opening it at the page he'd marked with the thin pewter bookmark Sam had recently given him. He pretended to concentrate on the page, but was really listening with great glee to the sighs of discontent coming from the bed. In the end he couldn't carry it on any more. Taking pity on his friend, he put the book down once more. It wasn't like he wasn't burning to know what cure the doctors had found that had made such an obvious improvement in Jack's condition. "What kills the bacteria, Jack?"
As soon as he spoke Jack discarded the magazine, his face breaking into a broad smile. "You sure you want to know?"
"Of course I do, you idiot."
"You'll never believe it." Jack's excitement was infectious and Daniel found himself grinning as well. "It's alcohol. You know how Janet gave me Nyquil for the cough and I started getting better? Well it turned out the alcohol is killing off the snake bugs. I always knew the Doc was wrong when she told me I couldn't have beer after I'd been in the infirmary. I've tried to tell her before that it's the best thing when you're convalescing, especially Guinness. Guinness has its own food group, you know."
"Yes, sure it has." The book slid off Daniel's lap onto the floor, hitting it with a thump, but he ignored it as he stared at Jack. The colonel looked like a kid who'd just opened a present and found exactly what he wanted inside. "Let me get this straight – a few beers and you're all better?"
"Hardly." Janet Fraiser's voice cut through whatever Jack was about to say. The doctor came up to the bed, one of her nurses following behind her carrying a covered instrument tray. "Ignore whatever the colonel's been saying, Daniel. He is not going to be released from this infirmary to sit at home guzzling down beer. Yes, it seems alcohol is the unexpected cure for the bacteria that's been causing all the problems, but we in the medical profession are not about to prescribe a vigorous regime of drinking, despite Colonel O'Neill's wishes. His kidneys are in far too weakened a condition to even consider that. And as for his heart…" She paused and finally turned to her patient, giving him a commiserating smile. "It's improving, but only gradually. I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to stay in the infirmary a little while longer. Doctor Burton and I are working out the best method of administering the dosage needed to kill the bacteria without doing more damage to your system."
"But it's a cure? Jack's going to get better?"
Daniel was relieved to see Janet's nod. "Yes, he's going to be fine. In a few weeks this will all be a distant memory."
Jack gave a snort of disgust. "Hey, Doc, I may be older than you, but I'm not senile. No way will I be forgetting this in a hurry. Now, can we get back to the whole 'alcohol is a cure' thing? I want to get this straight – beer's out, but…" He turned the magazine's glossy pages back to the picture of the cocktail. "This is okay, right? I mean, look at it – it's a meal in itself. Fruit – and – stuff. See. Got to be good for me, right? You agree, don't you, Daniel?"
Daniel could only smile and nod.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
TBC