16
Sam was upset, but more than that she was ill, she told him she could feel 'it' starting again, though it was not bad as yet. He pulled over the trays the SF had brought in and tried to get her to eat, but she still insisted that she did not feel hungry. He went and got Dr. Cook and asked him if he had any ideas, the huge black rings around his eyes told Jack that he would not be much use to anyone very shortly, and Jack ordered him to lay on the bed Anise had been on previously and get some rest. He protested but Jack stood and looked at him until he gave in. Jack then phoned Walter and was told that another doctor was on his way from the academy hospital as they spoke, he smiled and thanked the man once more, and went and lay down next to his future bride and the mother of his children.
He held her tight as they both drifted off to sleep.
Jack woke at 06:00 and swore to himself that he would get bigger 'married' beds in the infirmary in future. He could not have moved a muscle during the night or he would have fallen off the bed, and he was as stiff as a board. He looked down at Sam, she didn't look great, though she was neither hot nor cold there was an air of…wrongness… about her.
He shook her and she moaned, "Let me sleep sir" he would forgive the honourific this time as she was drowsy.
"Come on, sleeping beauty, lets see those beautiful eyes" she rolled onto her back and opened them just a touch, and squinched them shut again.
"Too bright" she said. Jack went to the light control and turned them down a little and she sat up in bed.
"Hey" he said softly
"Hey yourself" she replied "I don't feel good Jack" it took a hell of a lot for her to admit to being ill! And he looked around the ward, not seeing anyone except Dr. Cook still asleep on the next bed.
"I'll be right back" Jack said and headed for the small office, there was no one there. He turned and headed for the nursery. Inside he could see four occupied cots and four pods! Oh GOD! Another child had got to the point where they had to freeze them. He pulled himself together and shoved his emotions into a 'room' in his mind, he was good at doing that.
"Who…" he gestured to the pods
"Grace" Dave Dixon answered. "and I'm afraid Jacob has gotten a lot more yellow overnight sir"
Jack went and stood at the spot in the room at which he was at the corner of every occupied cot and looked at the remaining half of his children. There were things to be done, he just could not fall apart yet.
"Carter needs a doctor" he said, "Did the new man arrive yet?"
"I'll go get him Jack" Daniel said. He returned in a couple of minutes with an older, slightly balding man with a distinct curvature of the upper spine. Jack imagined that he would be perpetually leaning over his patients on their beds and that could be …unnerving. Then the man cocked his head so he looked directly into his face and Jack saw eyes as blue as Sams with a merry twinkle in them and a wicked grin, he immediately warmed to this man, but then he had liked Carolyn too to start with!
"Doctor Frankie Lyman at your service" Jack jumped slightly "No relation" he said
"Didn't imagine you were, you being white" Jack answered with a grin.
"I owned the name first" the doc replied "But decided not to make a fuss when the songs were a success
"I've been studying the charts since I got here and I have a feeling that Colonel Carter is no better?" Jack nodded solemnly he gestured to the door. The doctor walked out and at Jacks direction found the infirmary doors and went in, Sam was almost upright, but seemed to be tilted off to one side and unable to correct herself. "I have a theory" he said, "but I am warning you, if I am wrong you could get worse" Sam nodded that she understood.
"Thor can always shove me in a box" she said as a joke Jack decided not to fill her in on the children as yet, she had enough to worry about.
The doctor went back out the door and returned with what looked like sludge in a beaker.
"Could you try to drink this" he said thrusting it at her. She looked at it suspiciously,
"What is it?"
"Activated charcoal" he said "I believe that you are being poisoned slowly by whatever it causing the rise in the bilirubin of the babies, I'm hoping the super absorption of the charcoal will grab it out of your system as it passes through your gut. I don't want you to eat anything for a couple of hours"
"Doc!" Jack exclaimed "she hasn't eaten since she went into the coma!"
"I'm not hungry Jack"
"That's what gave me this clue" the man said his eyes twinkling at her, Dr. Cook rolled over, coming awake at last "I am betting your lack of appetite is imposed by whoever took you" he waved his hand near his head "the charts and the staff I have spoken to since I arrived have all mentioned you not being hungry, but they do not report any sign of nausea at the sight and smell of food, you just are not interested. I'm guessing" he looked at Jack "and it is ONLY a guess, that when they took you to bring you out of the coma they set a subliminal command, or even gave you an appetite suppressant to stop you falling ill as fast"
Cook got off the bed "What about the children?"
"I guess that they have the same trigger, but unlike the Colonel here, they cannot go a few days without sustenance."
Jack looked from one medic to the other and Cook said "That could explain the trigger in the others, but what makes George immune?"
"I have asked for tests on his stomach contents" the balding man chuckled "It's never hard getting a sample of stomach contents from a baby, they provide them regularly. I have had samples from all four of the children still awake sent off"
"FOUR?!" Doctor Cook ran out of the room and Sam grabbed his hand with tears in her eyes
"Who?" she whispered
"Grace" he replied and she started to sob quietly, still holding the glass of charcoal. He pulled her into his embrace and the tears wouldn't stop rolling down his cheeks either. The doctor came to their side and put a hand on her shoulder, and one on his.
"We WILL find out what is causing this" he said in a low, reassuring voice "With half the galaxy helping, how can we fail? And you have no idea how astonished I am to be able to say that, yesterday I was wondering if there as intelligent life anywhere and today I find that other species consider WE qualify for that status, I cannot wait to meet an alien!" he said trying to distract them slightly
"You already have" Jack answered, he nodded at the door and Teal'c was stood there
"O'Neill" he boomed, softly… strange how he could do that Jack thought "Thor asks that you stand at the other side of Colonel Carters bed, he cannot get clearance to beam in when you are on that side, and he does not wish to disturb you until you are ready. As soon as you move he will arrive"
Jack started to move and Sam remembered the charcoal, "I use a lot of this stuff in my lab, I never thought of drinking it!"
A beam of light and there was Thor, pressed up against the wall. "Thank you O'Neill" he said and walked forwards
"Oh my!" the doctor said "you are much more impressive in real life you know" he stated.
Jack introduced them to each other and Thor listened as he explained the doctor's theory.
"This is an application of active carbon that we have not thought of" the mannequin said
"does it truly absorb poison from the internal organs?"
"From the digestive tract yes." The doctor explained "I am hoping that as it passes through her gut that it will absorb bilirubin, or whatever it is that is causing the Colonel to sicken, in direct opposition of how the gut usually works, the nutrients being absorbed into the blood FROM the gut"
"Fascinating" Thor shook his head "The way you humans think is truly unfathomable, I hope this treatment is successful, maybe we could try it on one of the children?"
"I don't want to risk it yet," the Dr. Lyman said "It will not harm them if they drink it, but I would rather not introduce anything into them until we get some results back"
"O'Neill, the reason I came was to give you this." He held up one of the white stones, the usual control pieces for Asgard technology
"Thanks" he bounced it in his hand a couple of times then tossed it from one to the other
"Sir!" Sam said from the bed and he realised he was fiddling again.
He shoved one hand in his pocket like a naught boy told off for stealing apples he looked down at the floor. She laughed at him and when he raised his head to look at her and smile he got the shock of his life, her lips were black, so were her gums and he could see bits of white teeth showing through the coal…
"Carter you seriously need to brush your teeth" he said, she squinted at him in mock anger and he decided to stop it before it turned real.
"What does it control?" he turned back to Thor
"This is the control for your personal transport, we need to pick the locations that you wish it to take you to"
"From here to DC will do fine," he answered
"I do not believe you would wish to always appear in the infirmary," Jack had forgotten what pedants the Asgard could be.
"I'll get Hank" he said and he picked up the phone on the wall behind the door. He helped Sam to the bathroom while they were waiting for him to arrive, and she brushed her teeth, though the doctor told her she couldn't use anything but water and a brush, and she had just finished her ablutions when the General walked through the door, with another one!
"Sir!" she tried to come to attention but Jack had to hold her up
"George" he drawled "I would like to say it is a surprise, but I don't think it is" he helped her back onto the bed and got her settled before turning to face the music.