The Noise

As they left the forest, they weren't at all surprised to be confronted with a specific, and very impatient looking, MD. Dr. Janet Fraiser was waiting with her arms crossed and a frown on her face, under the exterior compound lights. She glared at them as she walked toward them, checking them both over with her eyes and then allowing a little relief to show as she found no one visibly injured.

Jack smirked cheekily. "Hey Doc. Looking for someone?"

Fraiser rolled her eyes. "You sound like you're feeling better."

He shrugged as she picked up his wrist to check his pulse rate. There was silence for a few seconds as she looked at her watch and then, nodding to herself, released him.

"Am I alive?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"I don't know Colonel, you tell me." A slight smirk touched her face, as they started walking toward the tunnel entrance. "So, where did you go?" she asked, turning to Daniel.

"Just, uh, around… on a trail," he said a little guiltily. He knew perfectly well that he hadn't been in control for longer then a minute since they stepped out of the elevator, and that if anything had happened, it would probably have been his fault because of it.

"Well, you were gone for a half-an-hour. I was just about to send a team out looking for you," she said sternly.

He avoided her gaze, looking away from her, and stopped dead. "Jack?" Daniel said as he noticed the spot where the Colonel was walking a moment before was now empty. Janet immediately turned around. And of course, O'Neill wasn't there.

It took them a minute before they spotted him. He was standing out of the way of the tunnel, where the lights couldn't quite reach him, staring into the forest intently. They glanced at each other, and then jogged quickly up beside him. He didn't even seem to notice.

"Sir, are you –" she cut herself off when O'Neill raised his hand in a signal to be quiet.

After a few minutes he spoke without taking his eyes off the forest. "Did you guys hear that?" he asked quietly.

"Hear what?" Daniel looked into the forest with a frown of concentration.

"It's stopped now. Y'didn't hear that?" Jack glanced at him.

"No…." the archaeologist said slowly, raising his eyebrows.

Janet shook her head slightly when he looked at her, the concern growing on her face. "What did you hear?"

Jack turned back to the forest and shrugged, not sure how to explain what he had just heard. It sounded sorta like… O'Neill straightened slightly. "That. Do you hear that?"

The other two fell silent as they listened, before Fraiser spoke up.

"Sir, I can't hear anything. Maybe…" She trailed off as the Colonel took a slow step forward. She went to stop him when he turned to the side, his eyes still on the forest, and began to pace. Not in a fast impatient manner, but almost at a leisurely speed… except that everything about it wasn't at all leisurely-looking. It was steady, almost stealthy, his whole body looked tense and alert, like he was ready to spring at any moment, his entire focus on the forest. It reminded her uncannily of the night before: the wolf, (impossibly) watching her through the mirror.

It sent a shiver down her spine, and she reached out, grabbing him by the arm. He whipped around, jerking his arm out of her grasp and… growled. She blinked in surprise and nearly stepped backward, just barely managing to catch herself. She let her hand fall back at her side and watched him cautiously, forcing herself to remain still and calm.

"Damn it," the Colonel swore under his breath.

"Jack?" Daniel said quietly, allowing only a hint of concern into his voice.

The older man seemed to suddenly come out of whatever thoughts had been going on in his head and he sighed. "Daniel," he said, sounding a little tired now.

She checked him over again with her eyes, nothing was visibly wrong, so she put the reaction down to being startled. "Sir, I think maybe we should go inside," she said as though he hadn't just growled at her. She'd been an MD here for too long for something like that to rattle her for long.

He looked back at her stubbornly and crossed his arms. "Just a few more minutes, Doc. Please?"

She shook her head. "I think it's for the best, sir."

The Colonel seemed to fight an internal battle for a few seconds, and he took a couple steps back before he grimaced, and her hand—that had snaked inside her lab coat pocket to grip a 2-way radio—relaxed a little.

"Bah," he snapped in frustration at no one in particular. He brought up his hand and rubbed his eyes with his fingers and thumb, before pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing.

Janet relaxed her hand completely, and let go of the 2-way radio. Slowly, she took a few steps closer to him. "Colonel?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he said, and he definitely sounded tired. He started walking toward the tunnel without looking at the others, distracted by his thoughts.

Janet slowly went through what had just happened and began to plan out a series of questions she would ask him, as soon as they got back to the isolation room. She had been waiting to ask about what he was feeling all day and she was more worried now then she had been. From the MRI and blood tests done on him by herself or Dr. Layr, the specialist that had come that morning, indicated the virus was still affecting him and while he was unconscious, she could only guess at what side-effects that might have.

Daniel was silent for a few minutes as they walked. He was getting more and more concerned about his friend. It was almost as though he had had a difficult argument with himself… Himself? Could Jack, even though he's still human looking, have the instincts of a wolf inside? Did that make any sense? …Yes, it (kind of) did, come to think of it. He had been researching werewolves since he had come home from Phelan today, and a few stories say that once someone has become the wolf, it's always inside them. He wondered briefly how that worked, was there always a voice at the back of their mind telling them what to do? To go kill things? Or was it something to do with instincts? Did their instincts change? Or become stronger, maybe?

Something crossed his mind and he glanced at the older man. "Jack, what about that sound?"

Jack glanced at him and shrugged. "Probably just an animal," he said, he didn't really care about the sound anymore. He was far more concerned about not being in control of his actions. He had wanted to leave. But why? And where?

Away. He wanted away. But 'away' from what? Who?

Here. Away from here. He wasn't sure where the answer came from, but that was it. Away from being locked up, underground, confined.

He stepped into the elevator and leaned against the back wall, closing his eyes. He wanted away from here. No, not him but… whatever these feelings were, they wanted out—and what the hell was that noise!

He opened his eyes and looked around the small descending metal box. Neither Daniel nor Fraiser were talking, and there was absolutely nothing that he could see that could be making that noise. Where the hell was it coming from?

Slowly, he stood up straight and walked to the corner across from him. He stood there for a minute listening, and then moved across to stand beside the Doc. Nothing changed. Damn. It was starting to—no, make that already grating on his nerves. He went back to the position he started at and leaned against the wall again. He continued to listen trying to pinpoint where the sound was coming from. And slowly he looked up. It was coming from the ceiling of the elevator. What the heck?

He studied the roof for a minute and then reached over and hit the emergency stop. The elevator stopped, and so did the noise.

"Uh Jack? What are you doing?" Daniel asked curiously.

Jack glanced at the younger man, attempting a nonchalant look and shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing." He reached over and pressed the button to release the elevator.

And damn it, the noise started again. Jack reached over and hit the emergency stop again.

"Sir?" Fraiser asked, watching her patient closely.

"I think…" he paused, and then restarted his sentence. "I heard something."

"What?" the Doc asked in almost a forced calm, humouring someone type way.

"The elevator squeaks," he said as though it was obvious. They looked back at him blankly, and he sighed irritatedly. "You didn't hear it!"

"Um, no…"

"Sir, would you like it if we took a different elevator?" she asked almost gently. She didn't want to have another argument about what he was or wasn't hearing, what she wanted was to get back down to where she could try and find out what was happening—in a safe, confined area.

"Yes," he said a little crankily, and hit the button that opened the doors. Stepping out, he made his way down a plain looking hall with doors on each side, to the nearest elevator, his friends following behind.

Jack was going nuts! What was with the noise! First it was the bush, then the squeaking elevator, then when they got off at this level, there was buzzing. When he walked past solid metal doors he could hear talking, let alone regular wood doors. The whole stupid place made noise! Even the isolation room—which was supposed to be sound proof—made enough noise to drive him up the wall! The humming from something electrical in the walls, and the stupid lights made an annoying buzz sometimes. If he walked over to the door, he could hear people talking as they walked passed, although he'd have to focus to hear what they were saying it wasn't too difficult to make out.

He started pacing; now more then ever did he want out and it had nothing to do with the confinement.

Fraiser suddenly walked in again, the door opening and closing allowing her entry. He didn't stop moving though, ignoring her in favour of trying to block out all sounds. Which really, really wasn't working well.

"Colonel?" the Doc asked after a few seconds of watching him silently. Once they'd reached the isolation room, she had left saying she's be back in a few minutes, probably ready to ask some weird questions he had no idea what the use of it would be.

"Can I ask you some questions?"

And here it came. He turned around, crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, nodding slightly for her to go ahead.

She leaned against the bed, the only piece of furniture or appliance in the room. "How do you feel, sir?"

"Fine," he snapped, wanting to pace but at the same time not really wanting to move. He opted to stay still for a few more minutes.

"Physically or mentally?" She looked him curiously.

He looked at her sceptically and then exploded. "I'm going nuts!" He said loudly through gritted teeth, gesticulating as he talked. "I'm going insane!" He started pacing again, trying once again to ignore the sounds.

"Why?" Fraiser said, placating.

He turned to face her, his expression half annoyed and half angry. "Everything… makes… noise!"

Suddenly, realisation hit Janet. She knew enough about animals that humans had relatively poor hearing, that many animals had a far better sense of hearing. Again the 'werewolf' aspect came into play, not only did he turn into a creature that resembled a wolf, but he was beginning to develop attributes akin to the wolf species. A good sense of hearing may only be the beginning.

She shook her head and looked over at the pacing Colonel. He really did look like he was about to climb up the walls. "Sir, would you like some earplugs?"

He glanced over at her. "Yes!" he said forcefully.