Hey all

sorry this took forever to put up...i kinda had a bagillion tests this week and i kinda needed to concentrate on those for a bit...but i wont bore you with my issues with food chains and parabolas, back to stargate!!

I've kinda forgotten to do this before, but id really like to thank anyone and everyone who has reviewed me at any time, especially people who review after every chapter!!i really appreciate any reviews i get(i love it when i open my inbox at school and see all the emails labelled 'review alert'...it makes me happy.lol)

as always, i don't own stargate or any of its lovely characters, just my little plot here :)

Jack woke the next morning feeling refreshed and well-rested, but stayed where he was in bed. After careful thought for a good fifteen minutes, Jack figured out exactly what it was that he was going to say to Sam, and pushed himself out of bed with a feeling of confidence. Stripping out of the now creased medical scrubs he had received the night before and pulling on a fresh set of BDUs, Jack left his room feeling positivethat his meeting with Carter was going to go well. Taking a short trip down the elevator, Jack quickly made his way to the commissary. He wove his way through the tables and chairs towards the desserts cabinet. He pulled a large blue jelly and a cookie from its shelves, ignoring the funny looks he was receiving from the other officers in the room, who were mostly helping themselves to breakfast foods.

After gathering his 'peace offerings', Jack set out towards the most likely place that he would find Sam: her lab. After another swift trip down the elevator, Jack strolled through the astrophysics section of the research corridor, coming to a halt beside the door to Sam's lab. Taking a calming breath, he centred himself before walking confidently into the room.

'Hey, Carter, how'd you sleep…'Jack's question trailed off into silence, as he realised he was talking to an empty room. He took a quick double take, checking that the room was indeed empty, but as he had first thought, the room was devoid of any living things. Slightly disheartened by his failed first attempt at an apology, Jack started off towards the gym, thinking that to be the second most likely location to find an offended Major Carter who wanted to work off some anger. But she was not to be found there either. Slightly bemused now, he checked her quarters, but got no response when he knocked on her door. Running out of ideas of where to go, he headed towards the infirmary, planning to ask Janet if she had seen Sam since the night before. As Jack came through the doorway, Janet had barely got out a friendly greeting before she was met with Jack's blunt question.

'Have you seen Carter today?'

'Sam? No, I haven't. She paged me earlier, saying that she was planning to come and have her check-up sometime before lunch, but I haven't seen or heard from her since…is something the matter?'

'I just can't find her anywhere…we haven't been given clearance to leave the base yet, have we?'

'Not SG-1, you'll be cleared after your medical checks today if you show no symptoms.'

'Okay, thanks, Doc…' Jack called over his shoulder as he left the room, continuing on his search for his missing Major.

He had barely got a couple of meters down the hall, though, before a door to his left opened and he ran headlong into Daniel.

'Sleep well, Jack?' Daniel asked cheerily as he realised who it was that he had bumped into.

'Yeah, I guess…Have you seen Carter today?'

'Sam? No, sorry…I've been here since last night…' Daniel seemed slightly taken aback at the blunt change of subject, saying whatever first came to his mind. Jack nodded, not fully taking in what Daniel had said for a moment.

'Wait…what? Why were you here all night?' Jack looked around at where exactly they were, noticing the slightly ajar door which Daniel had come through. Peering through the gap, he saw it led into a standard military-issue bedroom that had been sparsely decorated; the only picture that really stood out was a large one of Cassie holding the puppy that Jack himself had given her when she first came to Earth. A split second after he saw the picture, realisation came flooding to him. Checking the door to the room, he saw the words CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER stamped across it in black, confirming his suspicions. He looked disbelievingly up at Daniel, who had begun to blush a bright red.

'You…and Fraiser?'

'Yeah, kinda…'

'Since when?'

'A couple of months…Shut up, Jack! You're acting like a teenager!' Daniel gently punched Jack on the shoulder, pulling an offended face as Jack's face twitched into a smirk and he let out a low chuckle. Before either of them could say anything else, they heard a pair of high-heeled shoes clicking rapidly towards them.

'Daniel, honey, did you remember to call the cleaning service to get them to change the shee…' Janet abruptly cut off and blanched as soon as she saw who was with Daniel in the hallway. Jack quirked an eyebrow in a striking imitation of Teal'c.

'Changing the sheets, are we, Doctor?' Janet blushed a deep red and looked to the floor, obviously thinking hard about some way to make it seem less suspicious.

'Yes…I…I spilled some coffee on my bed this morning! Yes, that's right. Coffee.'

'Did Daniel make it for you?'

'Yes…I mean, no! Why would Daniel be making me coffee?' Daniel walked over to Janet and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

'It's okay, Janet, he already knows.'

'Oh,' Janet paused for a moment, processing the information before a questioning look crossed her features,

'How…'

'He kinda just caught me leaving your room…'

'Right. I thought we were going for the subtle approach..?'

'Oh, we are.'

'How is this subtle?'

'As much as I hate to interrupt this…riveting conversation, I really must continue my search. You both sure that you don't have any idea where Carter is?' When the pair shook their heads, Jack turned down the hallway, back towards the elevator. Feeling slightly peckish as he went, Jack absentmindedly began to chew on the cookie he held in his hand. Half a second later, he let out an anguished cry as he'd realised what he'd done. Staring at the biscuit that now sported a suspicious and extremely obvious bite-mark, he deliberated what to do. Well, what she doesn't know won't hurt her…Taking a guilty look around him, Jack quickly stuffed the rest of the cookie in his mouth. Munching loudly as he went, Jack reached the elevator and swiped his card. A few moments later, the door opened with a quiet ding, revealing Teal'c standing inside. Jack joined his friend within the elevator cart, turning to his friend as the door closed.

'T, buddy, have you seen Carter today?'

'Indeed I have not seen Major Carter since she departed our company last night in the commissary. Is something the matter, O'Neill?'

'No, nothing's wrong, I just haven't seen her today…'

'Have you checked the women's locker room?' Jack was slightly taken aback at the suggestion, but as it sunk in, he realised it probably made a fair amount of sense.

'No, I haven't made it over there yet. Thanks for the suggestion, T.'

'You are most welcome, O'Neill.' Teal'c gave a single nod, and exited the lift as the doors opened on his floor.

Jack travelled down another floor to the level that contained the locker rooms, and made his way along the corridor. He reached the door and hesitated, not sure how to continue. The floor was deserted; no SG teams were due to return that day, and no one was permitted to travel off-world due to the current medical lock down. This was both a good thing and a bad thing; no one was around to witness Jack's suspicious-looking hovering outside the women's locker room, but it also meant that no women were around for him to convince to look for Sam inside the room for him. While he was debating this inside his head, Jack thought he heard a noise break the silence. He paused in his thoughts, listening intently to see if he could hear the sound again. After another couple of moments, the noise was repeated. And, in the silence, the sound was unmistakable. The small sob resonated from within the women's locker room, muffled slightly by the firmly closed door to the room, but the distinctive sound was clearly recognisable. Jack immediately approached the door, his hand hovering above the handle.

'Carter? Is that you?' He received no response. Frustration raked Jack's body and mind; if it was Carter in there, he wanted to rip the door off its hinges and find out what was wrong, but if it wasn't, he didn't want to barge in on some poor woman he probably didn't know who was obviously going through something emotional.

'Sam? I only want to help; if it's you, can you say something?' A half second later, a muffled voice called through the door.

'Jack?' At the word, Jack threw the door open and bolted inside. Sam was sitting on the bench in the centre of the room, her head resting in her hands. She was wearing nothing but a towel, and by the appearance of her saturated skin and hair she had just got out of the shower. She was looking up at the door through her hands, her tear-stained face showing relief as she realised who it was. A moment later, modesty seemed to take over, and she instinctively wrapped her towel closer around her. Wiping at her face in a futile attempt to hide her despair, Sam slumped back forward into her hands, breathing deeply and trying to regain control. Jack approached, but stopped just in front of her, wanting to allow her some personal space.

'You okay, Carter?'

'Not really, sir.'

'Do you want to tell me what's the matter?' Sam let out a wobbly sigh, and new tears began to leak out the corners of her eyes. His overwhelming feelings of compassion outweighing his original thought to give her personal space, Jack moved over to sit beside Sam on the bench, and wrapped a consoling arm around her shoulders. Silent tears racing down her cheeks, she rested her head against his shoulder. But, almost as soon as she had relaxed into his embrace, she jolted violently out of his arms and jumped to her feet, moving as far from him as she could until her back was pressed against the harsh concrete wall.

'You…no…don't come near me…please…I don't want…' Sam spoke in broken sentences, not sure how to word her feelings, but desperately wanting to convey them. Jack rose to his feet in concern, his arms outstretched towards his second in command.

'Carter…Sam- what's wrong?'

Sam, letting out a wavering breath to calm herself, slowly raised her right arm. Jack's stomach plummeted as what he saw, and tears of sorrow and compassion pricked at his eyes. A small, but unmistakable bubo blossomed across Sam's armpit, bruising her skin a deep purple. Jack's body slackened from shock, and the blue jelly that he had been carrying all morning slipped from his fingers and smashed against the floor. As quick as lightning, Jack moved to Sam's side and pulled her into a tight embrace. He felt her try to pull away, but he only tightened his grasp.

'But you'll get sick, too!' Sam whispered, weakly beating against Jack's chest. He pressed a gentle finger against her lips.

'I wouldn't care if I could, but I'm not going to. We all got vaccinated, right? I'm safe.'

'But I…I won't be…' Sam collapsed into tears, burying her face into Jack's BDUs. Jack held her closely, rubbing a comforting hand across her back, but secretly feeling almost as much despair as the woman in his arms. Looking down into the face of his distraught Major, he had to fight to keep his composure and not join Carter in her tears. He wanted to be positive, and he wanted to be able to tell Sam that everything was going to be okay. But his mind was flooded with one question. A question that, in his internally panicked and distressed state, he could not think of an answer for.

What are we going to do?

There we are, chapter 4!! i hope you like (especially those who expressed how much they liked something (eg Sam whump or Dan/Jan) and got what they liked)

please review

do you really want me to turn into one of those authors who are like 'i wont add another chapter until i have 50 more reviews'??im afraid i might have to, as my review addiction is still running strong

the next chapter might take a while (its not finished yet, and i need to check to make sure its scientifically accurate)

well, you'll hear from me sometime in the near future, and hopefully I'll hear from you sometime sooner in my reviews!! (very unsubtle hinting there)