In the General's briefing room overlooking the gate room, Colonel Jack O'Neill sat alternately playing with his pencil and fiddling with his watch. He stilled as he watched the second hand of his watch count down the seconds. When it reached twelve, he turned to his second-in-command. "Carter?"

Sam looked her boss in the eye. "Yes, sir?"

"He's late. I thought you told me he's never late."

Sam resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Sir, he's not late. He's got another… twenty-three seconds to be on time."

O'Neill raised an eyebrow, but kept his peace, instead mouthing a silent countdown.

Sam covered a smile. She knew Jack O'Neill was beginning to like their Kelownan teammate, despite his sometimes annoying over-eagerness. Jonas was hard not to like. He was open and friendly and tolerant, and it didn't hurt that he was as smart as a whip. O'Neill would never admit it, but Sam knew the man preferred to work with intelligent people.

"Aha! Now he's late!" O'Neill crowed triumphantly as his watch ticked over the twelve again.

"O'Neill, is it not true that the debriefing can not begin until General Hammond has completed his telephone call?" Teal'c intoned serenely.

"What's that got to do with it?" The silver-haired Colonel frowned.

"If Jonas Quinn arrives before General Hammond is prepared to begin, then he is not late." Sam grinned. Teal'c had a way of stating things as if they were immutable fact.

Jack was not deterred. "Well, maybe, just maybe, I wanted to have a pre-debriefing debriefing. Did that ever occur to you?"

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "No, it did not."

"See? He's late!"

"O'Neill, since joining SG1, I have attended four hundred and thirty-six debriefings. At no time have you ever expressed a desire to engage in a pre-debriefing. Why do you feel the need to do so now?"

O'Neill sat blinking. After several moments, he asked, "You've kept count?"

The tall Jaffa inclined his head in agreement. Sam could see the glimmer of a smile on his face. Somewhat nonplussed, O'Neill grumbled, "That's not the point."

Sam looked over her commander's shoulder, and seeing General Hammond finish his phone call and stand up at his desk, she sat up straighter, bringing herself to a state of readiness. The balding head of Stargate Command entered the debriefing room from his adjoining office, and looked over his flagship team. "Where's Mr. Quinn?"

"He's late, sir." O'Neill stated firmly.

Hammond frowned slightly. Sam was not sure if it was because the Kelownan was late, or because the general didn't know quite how to take Col. O'Neill's adamant statement. The older man glanced at the clock on the wall, and sat in his seat at the head of the table. "Well, we'll just have to start without him. I have a call coming in from the Joint Chiefs in half an hour. Now, Colonel, did you find anything of interest?"

"No sir. Nice folks, pretty planet, but nothing worth noting."

Sam squirmed slightly. Apparently the colonel was going to take advantage of Jonas' absence to get in his side of the story first. "Well, I wouldn't say that, sir. Jonas found those texts that mention the Ancients in their library."

"Yes, but Carter, that's all they do. They 'mention' the Ancients." Here the Colonel held up his fingers in bracketing motions to highlight the word mention. "No treasure maps, no diagrams for phazers, just 'mentions' of the Ancients."

Sam started to shake her head, but was interrupted when the intercom phone at the General's hand buzzed. Hammond held up a hand to forestall comment and picked up the receiver. "Hammond. Yes, Doctor."

Sam gathered her thoughts while waiting for the general to complete his call. She felt a faint swirl of annoyance at Jonas for not being there. She had been so busy with her soil and plant sampling that she had only listened to his enthusiastic commentaries with half an ear. It was unfair of him to leave her to defend his theories.

She noticed that Hammond was becoming increasingly concerned by whatever he was being told by the doctor on the phone. As over half the staff of Stargate Command had the title of doctor, herself included, Sam had no way to tell who the 'doctor' in question was.

"What's the prognosis, Doctor?" General Hammond asked. All three teammates suddenly stiffened. Hammond rarely gave anything away but his demeanor indicated the news was not good. Sam tried to remember who she had seen in the beds in the infirmary.

General Hammond hung up the phone and sat silently staring at the table. Sam felt her stomach tighten. O'Neill asked quietly, "Sir, what's wrong?"

Hammond looked up, the compassion in his eyes telegraphing his words. "We'll finish the debrief later. Mr. Quinn is in the infirmary."

Sam felt her eyebrows go up. Although she found Jonas exasperating, she wouldn't want to see him harmed. They had only lost Daniel a few months ago. At the time she has sworn she would never let another person into her life. When Jonas had first shown up, she had kept to her oath, pushing him away at every opportunity, even after he had officially become a member of the team. But it wasn't in her nature to kick puppies, and eventually, her defenses had eroded, and she, like Col. O'Neill, was beginning to accept the Kelownan.

She knew it was bad from the look in Hammond's eyes, and she found herself jumping to her feet. As she looked at the general for permission to leave, she was stung that O'Neill and Teal'c were just sitting there. When the general nodded his dismissal, she left at a run, but not before she heard O'Neill's flippant, "What did he do, trip over that big brain of his?"

She ran through the halls, angry at the colonel for his callousness, angry at herself for letting herself care, and angry at Jonas for not keeping himself safe. When she reached the infirmary, she looked around, and not immediately seeing Jonas, headed for Dr. Fraiser's office. Seeing the woman clad in surgical scrubs, Sam swallowed hard. "Janet? What happened?"

The doctor looked up, and with a worried frown, responded. "He's in recovery, Sam. I had to perform an emergency tracheotomy."

"A tracheotomy? Why? What happened?" Sam jumped startled at O'Neill's voice right behind her. She glanced around at the colonel surprised he and Teal'c had come so quickly.

A glance passed between the two officers, a silent apology given and accepted as the petite doctor, sighed. "Jonas went into anaphylactic shock. I'm not sure what triggered it, he's never shown any sensitivity before."

"Ana what, now?" O'Neill asked.

"Anaphylactic shock. An extreme allergic reaction." Sam felt a sudden concern for the Kelownan as Dr. Frasier explained. Several years ago, Dr. Warner had taken her aside and explained the symptoms and dangers of anaphylactic shock, as a precaution with Daniel's allergies.

"Soooo, what are we talking here? Hives?" Col. O'Neill asked somewhat hopefully.

Janet destroyed that hope with her next harsh statement. "No sir, we're talking complete respiratory arrest, and accompanying tachycardia. If Doctor Lee had not found him when he did, Jonas would most likely be dead now."

"Bill Lee?" Sam asked slightly surprised.

"Yes. Fortunately he recognized the symptoms and had his EpiPen on him. He used it as soon as he realized what was happening. That relieved the constriction in Jonas' throat just enough for CPR until we were able to get him into surgery."

Sam frowned. She could see that Col. O'Neill was struggling to get a good grasp on the situation, and she would have explained, but Teal'c spoke first. "Forgive me, Dr. Frasier, but I do not understand. Did not Daniel Jackson suffer from allergic reactions? Is this not the same?"

"No, Teal'c. Daniel suffered from allergies, true, but he never had an episode of anaphylaxis. Jonas came into contact with something that caused his throat to swell entirely shut. He couldn't breathe. Dr. Lee has had similar episodes in the past, so he carries a special injector with a drug called epinephrine that eases the swelling."

"Then did not this drug relieve the problem?"

"It provided temporary relief so that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation could be performed. When they brought him in, we took him into surgery, and I made an incision into his throat so that we could place a tube to allow him to breathe."

"For how long will this tube be necessary?"

"At least the next four hours. We're treating him with bronchodilators and corticosteroids, but he's not responding as well as I'd like. Still, he's young and strong, and we caught it early enough that there's unlikely to be any brain damage. If he starts responding within the next few hours, I don't see any bar to a full recovery."

"So what caused it?" O'Neill asked, subdued.

"Well, it could be anything, but from the way his tongue has swollen, I'd say it's most likely something he ingested. Did he eat anything unusual on P3X-278?"

Sam shook her head. "No, I don't think so. We had a meal with the ruling council, but that was at least ten hours ago. This morning, we had no time for anything more than ration bars."

"Well, it's unlikely for a reaction this severe to be delayed. But still, I'll want you to write down everything you can remember seeing him eating or drinking in the last twenty-four hours."

Sam nodded, relieved to be doing something. "I'll get right on it."

"I will look in Jonas Quinn's quarters for anything he may have eaten there."

"Thank you, Teal'c." Dr. Frasier smiled.

"Why now?" O'Neill frowned. "The guy had eaten everything and anything anybody has given him up to and including slugs. Why hasn't he had this… annette funicello thing before?"

Sam had to smile at the colonel's reference. One of the men on SG7 had introduced Jonas to escargot, much to the colonel's disgust, and the Kelownan had eaten them with as much relish as he did everything else.

Janet shook her head. "When Jonas first came here, we monitored him very closely. He showed no sign of any type of allergic reactions to anything he was exposed to. That seemed a miracle in itself given the environment on Kelowna. Like you say, Colonel, he's had a very wide exposure to our foods and other products. Until we identify the trigger it would be impossible to say why he hasn't had any previous incidents."

"Janet, can I see him?" Sam asked.

The doctor flashed a smile, and placed her hand on Sam's elbow, gently guiding her to the infirmary door. "Give us some time to get him settled, then you can come keep him company. In the meantime, you'll do him more good if you get me that list."

Sam nodded. "I'll get right on it."