A/N: I didn't realize how long it had been since I posted. I'm sorry! My only explanation is it was my birthday 5/5 (22, yay!) and I just totally lost track of time. This is short but I promise there will be more later tonight or early tomorrow. This was just a good place to break up the chapter. Thanks to any reviewers, readers, and followers!

"Hey, Jack," Jacob greeted. "Got a second?"

Jack nodded and watched as Jacob took a seat across from him at the commissary table. He had a feeling he knew what this would be about.

"What's going on with Sam?" Jacob jumped in.

Jack sighed. "We don't know."

Jacob gave him a disapproving face. "You can't tell me you haven't noticed anything."

"We have," Jack admitted. "But she hasn't told us what's going on."

"Jack, she looks terrible. You haven't asked?"

"Of course we have!" he defended. "We just thought it was because of her brother at first. But then, well, it got worse and now we don't really know what to do," he admitted, scratching at the back of his neck.

Jacob sighed. "She's certainly stubborn. I tried to talk to her but she didn't cave." After a moment he realized something else. "What about Mark?"

"What?"

"Why would Mark have anything to do with this?"

Jack frowned, confused. "Because of his accident?"

"What accident?"

"The one that he… had?" Suddenly it clicked. "Carter was upset weeks ago. She said her brother had been in an accident but that he was going to be okay."

"I just came from Mark's. He's fine, he was just on vacation, actually."

Jack let out a frustrated sigh and slouched down in his chair. He and Jacob sat in silence for a moment, trying to consider why Sam would blatantly lie to her CO's face.

"Look, Jack, I need to head back to the Tok'ra today. I wish I could stay but I can't. You need to figure out what's going on with Sam."

"Jake-" he began.

"Jack, she's my daughter," Jacob interrupted.

"I know."

"Please. I know you care about her," Jacob continued.

Jack felt like he was being accused of something. "Jacob, I don't-"

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I just want you to look out for her. She's my little girl."

He couldn't blame the man for wanting to protect his daughter. "I'll do my best," he promised.

He hoped his best would be good enough.

SG1

A mere 24 hours later Daniel heard one of the alarms go off and suddenly the air was pierced by the intercom system.

"Med team to Major Carter's lab!" Audra's voice demanded.

Daniel stopped and changed directions immediately before running in the direction of Sam's lab. He rushed through the doorway to see Sam on the floor with Audra kneeling next to her.

"What happened?" he asked, rushing over to check on his friend.

"I don't know, she just collapsed." She took a deep breath. "Her breathing and pulse are fine. I think she just fainted. I might have overreacted," Audra admitted.

"No, you did the right thing," Daniel told her.

The med team rushed in and Janet was immediately on Sam. "What happened?"

"She just collapsed," Audra repeated. "We weren't doing anything. We weren't even running an experiment yet."

The med team loaded her onto the stretcher and made their way down to the infirmary, Audra and Daniel in tow. When they rounded the corner they noticed Jack and Teal'c already present, expecting their arrival.

"She okay?" Jack asked.

Daniel shrugged. They all looked to Janet.

"I need to examine her. You all can wait over there," she herded them out of the way before pulling the curtain.

Twenty minutes later Janet informed them that Sam had indeed simply fainted. Five minutes after that they heard Sam waking up.

She blinked her eyes, adjusting to the lights. She turned her head and almost jumped, startled to see all of SG1 and Janet standing over her at her side.

"Uh, hi guys. What happened?"

"You fainted." Everyone could hear the disapproving tone in Janet's voice.

"Oh."

"I need to speak to my patient alone," Janet informed the crowd.

Sam managed a weak wave in response to the colonel's own. After the group left Janet immediately turned on Sam.

"Let me guess: you skipped lunch."

"I lost track of time," Sam told her. Actually, food held little appeal for her but she doubted Janet would approve of that.

"Sam, you can't keep doing this."

"I know." She mustered every ounce of sincerity she could and fed it into her voice. "I'll eat better, Janet. I promise."

Janet had her doubts but seeing as there was nothing physically wrong with Sam she told her she would release her in a few hours if she promised to go home. She wished she could do something but because Sam wasn't going off world anymore she really had no authority over her physical state.

Janet had been growing more and more concerned over recent weeks. After Sam's release that evening she sought out Daniel in his lab. He shared her concerns and told her that he would speak to Jack and Teal'c about it later that evening.

SG1

"Jack, something is definitely really wrong!" Daniel stressed.

"I know."

"She can't keep going like this!" Daniel continued.

"I know, Daniel." Jack sipped his beer in silence. The three of them were sitting in his living room basically having an intervention without Carter's presence.

"I just wonder what's wrong."

"Indeed," Teal'c chimed in. "It is not like Major Carter to collapse so, despite forgoing the occasional meal."

"Her brother was never in an accident," Jack informed them.

"What? How do you know?"

"Jacob."

"Oh," Daniel breathed. "Right." That added a new level of secrecy that he wasn't sure what to make of.

"Let's look at all the facts," Daniel reasoned. "When did she start acting strange?"

The others shrugged and shook their heads. Well, Jack did. Teal'c conveyed his uncertainty with a unique movement of his eyebrows and tilt of his head.

"A couple of weeks ago she was strange on the phone," Daniel remembered.

"Then she had that breakdown in her lab," Jack recalled. "Which apparently had nothing to do with her brother after all."

"Then she was just kinda quiet."

"And most secretive," Teal'c added. "Then she took her leave from SG1."

"She's been losing tons of weight since then," Jack remarked. He'd noticed. While he wouldn't say he checked Carter out all the time, he did stop every now and then to appreciate her features. Lately she'd been almost fragile looking.

"Perhaps she is ill," Teal'c suggested.

"You think?" Daniel wondered. "It would explain her appearance. And her leaving the team."

"I don't know," Jack disagreed. "If she were sick Fraiser would know about it. She's been just as worried as us. And why would that be a secret?"

They all absorbed his remark and sank deeper into their seats. They weren't getting anywhere, it seemed.

"Do you think…" Daniel paused.

"What?"

"I mean, I wouldn't expect it, but could she maybe be…"

"What Daniel?" Jack was losing patience.

"Could she have an eating disorder?"

"No," Jack immediately replied before thinking about it a bit more.

"What is an eating disorder?" Teal'c asked.

"It's, uh, a condition where people eat too much or too little. A lot of times it's related to how they feel about their appearance or related to other illnesses like depression," Daniel tried to explain.

"I see." Teal'c didn't, but he let the conversation continue in the hopes to learn more.

"Carter? She's not exactly vain, Daniel." It was one of the reasons he liked her so much. He couldn't stand it when women took an hour to get ready to go to the store. They'd all seen each other at their worst and were beyond caring at this point.

"It might not be about just appearances, Jack. She's been pretty down lately."

Jack couldn't argue that. He'd seen her mope more in the past couple months than he had in the previous six years.

"We need to do something," Daniel insisted.

"I know," Jack responded, feeling like they were back at the start. "We should have done something earlier." In a way he had hoped Carter would snap out of it. It wasn't that he didn't care or wasn't concerned; he had just hoped it was something minor that she could resolve on her own. He was regretting this now and he pushed his guilt down.

"I'll check on her when I head home," Daniel said, standing up. "I have to take Teal'c back to base and I have to pass her neighborhood to get to my house."

They agreed to their temporary plan and said their goodbyes. Hopefully Daniel would get something out of her.

SG1

Sam heard her doorbell ring and shifted to look at the clock on her bedside table. It was only 6:15 but she had immediately gone to lay down on her bed when she'd gotten home. She grabbed a nearby pillow and placed it over her head, willing whoever was at the door to go away.

Daniel frowned as Sam didn't come to open the door. He knocked and waited a few more moments. He knew she had to be home because Janet had released her and her car was in her driveway. He grew concerned after a minute and decided to let himself in. He fumbled with his own keys in order to locate her spare but when he went to unlock the door he realized it was not locked at all. He turned the knob and went inside.

"Sam?" he called out. No response.

He made his way through the house and finally searched the last room- her bedroom. Walking in he saw that she was stretched out on her bed, facing away from the door.

"Sam?" he whispered. Maybe she was asleep, in which case he didn't want to disturb her.

"Go away, Daniel," she mumbled. Okay, apparently she was just awake and ignoring him.

"Are you okay?" He came into the room and sat on the edge of her bed. He couldn't see her face but he saw her shoulders hitch as she let out a bitter laugh.

"Never better," she bit out.

"Sam, what's wrong?" He put a hand on her shoulder but she rolled even further away from him, almost on her stomach now.

"Nothing's wrong, Daniel. I want to be alone."

"Something's wrong. We're all worried," he admitted. "Something's been wrong for a long time."

She didn't respond. Sam was almost beyond the point of caring. She'd tried to keep her secret but obviously the guys were still worried. There was no point in continuing to lie so she did the only thing she could: she outright denied anything was going on.

"No it hasn't."

"Your dad told Jack that your brother was never in an accident," Daniel tried.

"Oh." Daniel was sapping her energy. Why wouldn't he just leave her alone?

"Do you want to talk about that?" Daniel persisted.

"No." Sam's voice was mumbled into the pillow still on her face.

Daniel reached out to remove the pillow but Sam held on tighter and he gave in.

"Sam, please talk to me."

"There's nothing to talk about." God, just go away, Daniel.

"There is. We all just want to help, Sam."

"You can't help me," came Sam's resigned voice.

"We can't if we don't know what's wrong," Daniel reasoned.

"You can't help me, Daniel!" she snapped. "No one can."

Daniel changed tactics. "Can you tell me why you won't tell me?"

"It's personal."

"We're friends, Sam. You can tell me anything."

"Not this," she insisted.

"Why not?"

Sam was silent and Daniel was beginning to get frustrated as well. She was so stubborn!

"What is so bad that you can't tell me? Sam, you're one of my best friends. You can tell me anything. I promise I won't judge."

Sam finally exploded. She had no idea where the strength came from, but she sat bolt upright and glared at Daniel. He was startled and jumped back a bit but met her gaze.

"I have HIV!" she snapped. "That's what's going on. I was a whore and I got HIV," she bit out. "And now I'm off the team and you guys barely even see me anymore and the only one who talks to me is Capaldi and I barely even know her!"

"Oh, Sam," he breathed out, totally shocked. He would never have guessed that in a million years. He watched as all the anger drained from her body and tears welled in her eyes.

Sam looked at Daniel as he processed what he said. When he didn't respond she collapsed back to the bed and sobbed. She hadn't meant to tell him but his nagging was pissing her off and she just couldn't take it anymore, dammit.

But it was as she feared. He was disgusted by her. She should have kept her mouth shut.

Daniel looked down at his distraught friend. "Sam," he said, trying to gain her attention. She continued to cry. "Sam, please look at me."

She shook her head and stayed where she was. He rubbed her back for a minute.

"Go away, Daniel," she gasped out.

"I don't think-"

"Leave me alone!"

Daniel didn't think that was a good idea but he could see that Sam was shutting down. Maybe it would be a good idea to allow her to get herself together a bit.

"Okay," he conceded. "I'll give you some time."

He squeezed her shoulder and left her room. He went into her living room and lay on her couch. There was no way he was leaving her in this state, especially after the bomb she had just dropped.

HIV. Wow, he never would have guessed that. His heart broke for her. She'd been going through this for months and never told them. She must be so scared.

If he listened closely he could hear her crying from her room. He wished she had told him sooner. All he could do was be there for her now.